A Rewarding Assignment
by Quicksilver985
Summary: 13 years after Naruto graduates, he and Shikamaru receive genin squads. Orochimaru has been defeated, but Sasuke is in a coma, and Itachi is still at large. NaruHina and ShikaTema eventually, I hope. Rated T just to be safe. I want a better title.
1. A Lesson in History

**A/N: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the wonderful world of my fanfiction, A Rewarding Assignment (title subject to change). This is uraharastrawberry, and his little brother. I am a big fan of Naruto, but my only previous experience in writing fan fiction is in Bleach, another awesome anime/manga. Please, write as many reviews as possible. I am eager to know what I need to improve on, but be warned! Flames that aren't constructive, and are just mean will make my little brother cry. You wouldn't want that on your conscience, would you? Making a little boy cry?**

**Warning! Eventually, this story will probably contain spoilers for the manga, somewhere after the three years later stuff begins. Will also eventually have character deaths.**

Iruka-sensei's voice rang out through the stiflingly hot classroom. Although the chuunin had grown slightly older in the thirteen years since Uzumaki Naruto had graduated from his class, he wasn't old enough by a long shot to retire from teaching. However, just like old times, despite the fact that Iruka's voice was loud and clear as he discussed the Rookie Nine, very few students were actually listening.

Raizen Hikaru was not one of those few. The merchant's son could name ten things off of the top of his head that would be more fun to do on a hot summer day like this, and none of them involved learning about the feats of the legendary Rookie Nine. Hikaru had long since chewed his pencil to a stub, and was now occupying himself by attempting to straighten his unruly brown hair without attracting Iruka's attention. He sighed to himself, knowing that as soon as the current lesson was over, they would be forced to hear about the Konoha Eleven. Was he the only one who thought the two were basically the same thing?

Unfortunately for Hikaru, his inward sigh had manifested externally as well. Iruka, an old hand at recognizing which students were beginning to doze, pounced on the bored boy.

"Hikaru-san, perhaps you can tell us the role Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru, Aburame Shino, and Uchiha Sasuke during their first Chuunin Exam?" Iruka's question snapped Hikaru out of his boredom. However, even though the boy was glad to have something relatively interesting to do, he still didn't appreciate being forced to answer in front of the class.

"Sure, Iruka-sensei," said Hikaru, barely concealing a yawn. "After the sand village launched their attack, Naruto the Whirlwind, Nara Shikamaru, and Haruno Sakura went off in pursuit of Sasuke the Betrayer, who was chasing Gaara of the Desert. Shikamaru stayed behind to fight off some Sound-nin. Then Aburame Shino fought Kankuro to pretty much a draw." Iruka sighed as he saw hands go up.

"Sorry class, we're not going into a debate right now over who won the fight," said the chuunin exasperatedly. He saw the hand of Aburame Haruka go reluctantly down, and let out a smile. He knew that the normally quiet girl had been itching to defend her older brother, but he also knew that the ensuing discussion could go on for hours.

"Please continue, Hikaru," said Iruka.

The boy nodded.

"The Betrayer caught up with Gaara of the Desert, and they started fighting. Soon the Whirlwind and Sakura caught up and joined the fight. Sakura and the Betrayer were defeated, and the Whirlwind beat Gaara alone." Hikaru let out a loud yawn, making no attempt to conceal it this time.

_Honestly_, thought the boy,_ is there anyone who doesn't know about the Rookie Nine?_ Hikaru, although still annoyed from having to make such a, from his view, pointless speech, couldn't help but take some pleasure from the look on Iruka's face when the chuunin realized that he would not be able to rebuke his pupil for not paying attention. After a short glare, Iruka went back to the lesson.

The chuunin continued to explain how Sasuke had left the village to join Orochimaru, the legendary Sannin. He also gave a brief overview of the final battle between Orochimaru and the Konoha Eleven, led by the famous Uzumaki Naruto. He told of the sacrifice of Sai's life, and the near fatal injuries of Inuzuka Kiba and Yamanaka Ino. Finally paying attention, Hikaru could not understand how Iruka could possibly make such an intense, exciting battle sound so incredibly boring.

"And then," said Iruka, "Naruto came upon Orochimaru attempting to perform the immortality jutsu, and take Sasuke's body. I'm sure you have all heard the story of how he interrupted the process, and killed Orochimaru. To this day, the trauma of the failure of the technique has left Sasuke in a coma. He is in a maximum security hospital even as we speak."

Iruka saw a hand up in the front row. He recognized the raven-haired, pale-eyes girl as Hyuuga Hanako. Fondly remembering how her older sister Hinata had almost never been bold enough to ask questions in class, the chuunin called her name.

"I was wondering, Iruka-sensei," said the short, thin youth, "How did the Whirlwind feel? He had been chasing after the Betrayer that whole time, only to land him in a coma. Did he feel sad, or guilty at all?"

Iruka's smile faltered. He remembered all to well the depression that had taken over the young Uzumaki's life after that fateful battle. The long, sleepless nights spent in the hospital by the Uchiha's bed. The sorrow that had only been overcome by the realization that a certain Hyuuga girl's feelings for him went beyond mere friendship. However, before Iruka could find a way to put those long weeks into words, another voice rudely interrupted his own.

Come on, Hanako-chan!" It was the voice of Kotami Kiyo, a tall, wiry boy with brown hair. "How would Iruka-sensei know that? You make it sound like he's best friends with the Whirlwind!" The class had a good laugh at that. The idea of their sensei being affiliated with one of the Hidden Leaf Village's most famous and powerful shinobi was funny to almost all of them.

After the general laughter had died down, Haruka let out a laugh that could easily be distinguished from the mirth around her. She was clearly laughing at, and not with, someone.

"Kiyo-kun, you baka," said the normally silent Aburame girl. "Don't you know anything?" Kiyo looked bashful. He could tell by Haruka's tone that he had said something stupid. "Don't you know that Iruka-sensei taught all of the Rookie Nine?"

Iruka took a moment to admire the flabbergasted look on Kiyo's face before responding.

"That's true, Haruka-san, I did. However, before you call others bakas, you should remember that not everyone has a sibling in the Rookie Nine to remind them of these things."

Hanako perked at hearing this.

But I do too, Iruka-sensei!" The Hyuuga girl pouted at being semi-ignored. "Hinata-nee chan is one of the Rookie Nine! I have a sibling in the Nine just like Haruka-chan!" Haruka retreated into her coat which, although not as voluminous as Shino's, served adequately to cover her ears, and block out some of the noise that the annoying Hyuuga was making. For the umpteenth time, she wished that Hanako was as quiet and shy as Shino told her Hinata had been.

Iruka could see the telltale signs that Haruka was getting annoyed, and knew that the class needed to focus on their subject matter.

"All right, everyone," said the teacher. "Settle down. As you all _should_ know, your examinations are tomorrow. Some of you will become genin, and be assigned to a squad. If you want to pass, you had better pay attention."

Of course, there were no history questions in the final exam, but Iruka saw no need to mention that to his now attentive class.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**A/N: OoOo section break inspired by one of Lifethane's stories. Lacking Sight or War of the Eyes, can't remember which. Both are awesome.**

The Fifth Hokage's office was filled with the sounds of sneezing. Most affected were Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Shino, but everyone let out at least one sneeze. After the fit was over, the assembled Rookie Nine**(A/N: I realize that there are only eight, but I like the sound of 'Rookie Nine' better than 'Rookie Eight')** looked at each other. Shino, after he attempted to regain his composure, was the first to speak.

"Odd…" said the bug-user, while straightening his glasses. "There must be a large amount of dust in here…"

"No way, Shino," said Naruto loudly. "Somebody's probably talking about us." Naruto was met by annoyed glances from Shino and Shikamaru. Kiba laughed loudly.

"You baka, you don't believe that superstition, do you?" Kiba gave a feral grin as he ran his hand through his messy hair. Naruto glared at him.

"I'm a baka? What are you talking about, dog-breath…"

"What did you call me, frog-boy…"

Shikamaru sighed. _All of this trouble over something as stupid as a sneezing fit_, thought the lazy shinobi. He tried as best as he could to tune out the argument between Kiba and Naruto, and tried focus on the clouds outside. His concentration was broken, however, by the crunching of Choji's potato chips.

Shikamaru bit back a grimace. His friend's crunching irritated him, but Shikamaru knew he was eating because of the stress. He couldn't blame Choji, either. Shikamaru knew that he definitely didn't want to be one of the "winners" of Tsunades little lottery.

Suddenly, a loud voice cut through the chattering that filled the room.

"Is this any way for the infamous Rookie Nine to behave?" Shino snapped to attention, but not all of the others were as proper. Namely, Naruto.

"Old Lady Tsunade, I don't think we're infamous," said the blond-haired young man. "Isn't just plain old 'famous' a better word?" Tsunade scoffed.

"Whatever…" The Fifth Hokage strode towards them. "I have selected two of you. It was completely random, so my likes…" Tsunade glanced towards Sakura, "And dislikes…" She looked at Naruto pointedly, long enough that even he got the point, "Had nothing to do with the decision."

Everyone in the room became silent. They all prayed for the names that followed to belong to someone other than them. Tsunade smirked, taking her time carefully, to prolong their suffering.

"Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto."

Shikamaru sighed deeply.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru wasn't willing to go to the trouble of vocalizing all of his feelings, by his thoughts were racing. He knew, though, that there would be no way to escape this duty.

Naruto, however, felt no such compunctions.

"No way, Old Lady Tsunade," said the loudmouth. "I need to train more with Ero-Sannin! Some of the Atatsuki are still out there!" Tsunade silenced him with a wave of her hand.

"Too bad, Naruto. You and Shikamaru, starting tomorrow, are going to finally live up to your responsibilities as Jonin of Konoha. Tomorrow, you each will receive a genin squad!"

**A/N: Well, that was the first chapter. I hope you all like it. If you do review, and tell me what you liked. If you didn't like it, review anyway. Tell me what you didn't like, and I will try to work on it. Just, please make up something you did like, so I will feel better. Thank you!**

**Coming up: Shikamaru and Naruto receive their squads. How will the genin react to their famous senseis?**


	2. Squads Received

**A/N: Hey, guys! Back with chapter two! Thanks for the seven (so far) reviews. Well, technically six, but my little brother's doesn't count. Some of you may have noticed that I fixed a few typos and such in chapter one. One of these, in which I made Hanako use the wrong honorific when referring to Hinata, was pointed out to me by Dilandu-Baka. Thanks for that, I'm still getting used to some of the honorifics.**

**Ready to know what squads Naruto and Shikamaru get? Read on, and review!**

**P.S. Forgot to mention last chapter, I do not own anything in Naruto. Sorry for confusing all of you people out there who thought I might own it.**

**P.P.S. My little brother doesn't own Naruto either.**

Kotame Kiyo sat with his back against the tree for at least an hour. The hot summer sun beat down on him, but he paid no attention to anything but the object in his hand. His headband.

_I'm a ninja_, thought the boy. _A shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves_. Kiyo became aware of the fact that his hand was shaking. He looked down at his wavering image, reflected in the polished metal of his headband.

He saw a boy of average height and build. He had blue eyes, and light brown, neat hair. He let out a sad smile, knowing that his parents probably wouldn't even recognize him if they saw him today.

Suddenly, he remembered the source of the shaking. The flames, the burning… He shook his head. He did not intend to let memories ruin this day, but he intended to remember. To remember the reason he became a ninja.

_What happened to my family will never happen to anyone under my protection_, Kiyo promised to himself, as he had countless times since that fateful day.

The youth's recollections were cut short by the sound of Iruka's voice ringing across the schoolyard.

"Genin, come here to receive your squad assignments," boomed the chuunin. Kiyo jumped up. He was ready to find out the names of the two genin, and the jonin instructor that he would be with for the next several years.

_I only hope_, thought Kiyo,_ that I don't get paired with some baka…_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto rested his forehead on the counter at Ichiraku Ramen. He let out a sigh, and finally turned to speak to his companion.

"How are you going to do it, Shikamaru-kun?" The lazy shinobi looked at him for a moment, and then sighed.

"I suppose I'll start from Asuma-sensei's approach," he said. "Of course, what worked for me, Ino, and Choji might not work for the genin I receive, but I'm sure that I will be able to make my own judgments based on their personalities." Naruto let out a groan.

"I knew it!" The orange-jumpsuited man once again collapsed his face into his arms. "You're smart enough to do this! You can just figure out what they need, and then do it!" Naruto let his arms fall to his sides, and stared dejectedly at the ground. "I am going to do terribly."

Shikamaru looked up at Naruto. This wasn't the hyperactive guy he had known for most of his life. He detected a sadness in Naruto that hadn't been present before Sasuke's coma. Already the young man's mind was thinking of the possibilites.

With a slight smirk, Shikamaru pushed away his ramen bowl.

"I suppose you're right," he said, not even bothering to look at Naruto. "My team is going to crush yours. Won't even be interesting."

Naruto stared at Shikamaru, an incredulous look on his face.

"What?"

"You heard me," said Shikamaru, still smirking. "I got promoted to chuunin _and_ jonin before you, and I'm a better squad leader. I guess I'm just better than you at this."

Naruto began visibly smoldering at Shikamaru's remarks.

"That's it, Shikamaru," he said angrily, "My team is going to crush yours. I don't care if I have to use every trick in the book, or even use Ero-Sannin's teaching methods! We are going to WIN!"

Shikamaru leaned towards Naruto, and let out a conspiratorial whisper.

"You might want to get going, then," he said with a grin on his face. "The genin receive their assignment in four minutes."

Naruto looked at the clock. He froze for a moment or two. Shikamaru calmly stuck his fingers in his ears, knowing what was coming.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Naruto began yelling, and scampering around in a panic. "I've got to get going! Thanks for the ramen, old man! Crush you later, Shikamaru-kun!" Shikamaru kept a smirk on his face as Naruto ran off into the distance. As soon as he was out of sight, however, a more sober look took the grin's place.

_That seemed to work, for now_, thought Shikamaru as he drummed his fingers on the countertop absentmindedly. _I knew that Naruto couldn't resist a competition_. However, Shikamaru knew that this solution was almost certainly only temporary. If Naruto didn't get over Sasuke's loss soon, Shikamaru knew there wouldn't be any positive effects on his squad.

After reflecting another moment, Shikamaru stood up, and began walking towards the Academy.

"Hey!" Shikamaru turned around. Ichiraku Teuchi was leaning over the counter. "You and Naruto forgot to pay!"

Shikamaru froze, remembering the thirteen bowls that had disappeared down Naruto's seemingly bottomless gullet. With a resigned sigh, he reached into his wallet and pulled out a stack of bills that was, by his reckoning, far too large.

_That guy owes me_, he thought as he continued towards his new genin squad, and his new future.

_Troublesome…_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Team 3," called out Iruka. "Hyuuga Hanako, Raizen Hikaru, and Daisuke."

Hikaru looked to his left and right, and saw two students already moving to fill the vacant seats next to him. He let out a groan as he recognized their names.

_Why_, thought the boy,_ why did they give me the insane Hyuuga girl? And Daisuke can barely make a bunshin_**(Clone. Not Shadow Clone, just clone)**Hanako took the seat on Hikaru's left, and Daisuke the seat on his right.

The Hyuuga girl looked sad as she sat down.

"I don't get to be with Haruka-chan," she said with a dejected sigh. She seemed to perk up almost immediately, however. "But I'm sure you guys will be lots of fun!" Hikaru tried as hard as he could to put a smile on his face. Honestly, he did. Still, he couldn't help but think inside, _Someone, please save me…_

Hikaru turned to his left, hoping that Daisuke would at least behave normally. He nearly leaned into the other boy's extended hand.

"Hello, Hikaru-kun, I'm Daisuke," said the white-haired boy a little too energetically.

"Yeah, I know," said Hikaru, hopes of normalcy quickly fading. Daisuke seemed oblivious to Hiraku's lack of enthusiasm. To his Daisuke's credit, though, Hikaru had to admit that the boy did seem relatively normal, if a bit too friendly for the standoffish boy's tastes. The fact that Daisuke had done terribly on almost all of his tests didn't necessarily mean he couldn't improve.

Kiyo was quickly reminded, however, of his less normal teammate.

"Who do you think our jonin will be?" said Hanako with an inquisitive look on her face. "I hope he's really strong, or smart. Or maybe it's a woman…"

Daisuke leaned around Hikaru to engage her in conversation.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Hanako-chan," said Daisuke. "There are many more male jonin than female." This comment sparked a long conversation about the qualities that each of the genin wanted to have in their instructor. Throughout the discussion, Hikaru attempted to lean away from his teammates and focus on something besides the torment that appeared to be his future. He was only vaguely aware of Iruka calling out the members of other squads. Other students, however, were still paying attention.

"Team Nine is Aburame Haruka, Yagami Goren, and Kotami Kiyo," called out Iruka.

Kiyo wasn't sure what to make of this. He knew who Haruka was, he had seen her in class. He knew that she was a bug-user, and had even heard her speak before. However, he had no idea what her actual personality was like, and try as he might, he couldn't remember who Yagami Goren was.

Suddenly, Kiyo heard a chair scraping on the floor to his right. He turned and saw a blond haired boy with glasses taking a seat next to him.

"Um…." Kiyo was trying to figure out a way to avoid being rude. "You're Goren, right?" Fortunately, the boy didn't seem to mind not being recognized.

"Yeah, that's me." The wiry boy extended his hand, and Kiyo shook it. "You probably haven't noticed me before, it's okay. I sit in the back." Now that Kiyo had a face to associate with the name, he could recall images of this boy sitting in the back of the classroom, his nose always buried in a book. Slowly, more memories of his impressions of Goren came back to Kiyo.

He grimaced inwardly. For lack of a better term, Goren was a nerd. Kiyo had heard about students like Goren before, who did perfectly in the classroom and fell to pieces in a real situation. He could only hope that Goren would not be one of those people.

As Kiyo turned to look at his other teammate, who was now sitting on his left, he knew that she wouldn't be the type to panic in battle. Haruka showed no intention of communicating with, or even acknowledging her teammates. _Maybe I'm just being pessimistic, _thought Kiyo,_ but I don't think she's a team player_. Kiyo knew that a loner on the team could cause problems. A team had to have flawless teamwork to function, and Kiyo just couldn't see himself or Goren working well with the silent Aburame girl.

After Goren sensed that Kiyo didn't want to talk, the three genin lapsed into an awkward silence as Iruka waited for the rest of the class to quiet down. After he had all of the students' attention, the chuunin spoke.

"All right, everyone, your jonin are about to come inside and take you to a place where they can begin training you to their liking," said Iruka. "Be good for them, and remember that I'm proud of all of you." As soon as he finished speaking, several people wearing jonin vests entered the room. One by one, they each picked out their squads, and left with their new entourage.

Goren spoke up on Kiyo's right.

"There aren't enough jonin." Kiyo turned to look at him. From the corner of his eye, he saw Haruka do so as well.

"What do you mean," Kiyo said curiously.

"Seven jonin walked into the classroom," explained Goren. "That leaves two squads without a jonin." Kiyo's brow furrowed. A squad without a jonin? That didn't make any sense.

However, Goren's observation was proved to be correct. In just a few moments, the room was empty, except for Team Three, Team Nine, and Iruka. The chuunin seemed surprised to see them there.

"That's odd, who is your jonin supposed to…" Iruka glanced at a sheet on his desk and smiled. "Ah, that explains it." He looked up at the obviously worried genin, and gave them a reassuring grin.

"Don't worry," he said. "You'll get your jonin in just a few minutes. They tend to be late sometimes." Footsteps could be heard in the hallway seconds after Iruka spoke. His grin deepened even farther.

"That would be them."

The door to the classroom opened, and two men stepped in. One of them wore a typical jonin vest, over a netted shirt. He also sported black pants. He looked annoyed with his companion, who was dressed quite differently. The second man wore no vest of any kind, instead favoring an orange jumpsuit with a red swirl on the back. The two were in the middle of a conversation as they walked in.

"I told you, you should have worn the thing," the first man was saying.

"I'm a jonin of Konoha, with or without my vest," the other replied. "I could be in this jumpsuit, or even my pajamas, and that wouldn't change!"

The first man sighed, and turned to Iruka.

"Sorry we're late, Iruka-san," he said. "We stopped for ramen."

"I might have guessed," said the chuunin with a laugh. He turned to the six genin in the room. "Children, you may recognize these men. We were learning about them just yesterday." He gestured towards the man in the jumpsuit. "This is Uzumaki Naruto, and he is going with Team Three." He pointed towards the other man, in the jonin uniform. "This is Nara Shikamaru, and he is going with Team Nine. These are your jonin instructors."

The six genin were speechless. Their instructors were two of the most famous of the Rookie Nine!

**A/N: There you have it, Shikamaru and Naruto have their teams. I intend to develop some of the characters a bit more in the next few chapters. If all goes according to plan, none of them will be unimportant.**

**Coming up: How will Naruto deal with his new responsibilites? What training and tests does he have in store for his genin?**


	3. Bell Test: Naruto Style!

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait between chapters, I've had a bit of stuff to do recently. I also just realized that I spelled "Akatsuki" as "Atatsuki" in the summary of the story. Sorry about that, I fixed it.**

**Now it's time for the part of the story that at least two of you have been waiting for: The Bell Test!**

**P.S. I am still having some trouble with honorifics. Could someone please send me an e-mail with the honorifics used for younger siblings, parents, children, and students? Arigato!**

Naruto looked over his students as they sat next to the posts in the training ground. He had been sizing them up ever since he first saw them, but was still not sure what to make of them.

The Hyuuga girl was dressed like pretty much all Hyuugas were, and had those same pale orbs for eyes. _Just like Hinata-chan when she was that age_, thought Naruto fondly. Forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, Naruto looked to the second member of his team.

Hikaru was the son of rich merchants. Naruto would have known that even if he hadn't read about him on his team roster. (**A/N: Naruto reading? I know, it is strange, but remember that it has been thirteen years since the series started. He _is _more mature now.)** He wore a black shirt of the highest quality, and his gray pants were of similar material. The only thing about him that didn't reek of fine grooming was his hair, which was a messy mass of brown. He did, Naruto noticed, have extraordinarily pale blue eyes. _As long as he isn't a snob_, Naruto thought, _I guess he won't be too much of a problem_. He was much less sure of his third team member.

Daisuke had shown signs of boredom after being in the training ground for only twenty seconds. He wore gray pants, though a darker gray than Hikaru's, and sported a dark red shirt. His spiky white hair had been cut extremely short. There had been very little information about him in the team roster. Apparently he didn't have a last name that he used, had done very poorly in class, and had no distinguishing habits. _I guess I'll have to wait and see about him_, thought the Whirlwind.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Hikaru fiddled idly with a piece of grass. His initial burst of excitement at finding out that Naruto the Whirlwind was their sensei had worn off after the first minute of being studied by him in the grass. Hikaru was already beginning to be kind of creeped out by the way that Naruto took turns staring at each of the three genin.

He didn't know about Daisuke, but even the energetic Hanako was obviously started to get bored. Luckily for Hikaru, Daisuke, and Hanako, Naruto decided to begin.

"You know, most teams start off with only one task on their first day," said Naruto, smiling. "But, I think you guys can handle two. You up to it?"

"I guess so, Naruto-sensei," said Daisuke uncertainly. Hanako was more sure.

"Of course we can, Naruto-sensei!" The Hyuuga girl, overjoyed at the prospect of doing something besides sitting, had leapt up in joy, to the slight surprise of her male teammates.

"Sit down, Hanako-chan," said Naruto, "The first thing we're doing will happen right here." Hanako was crestfallen as she reluctantly returned to the ground she thought she had escaped. Naruto cleared his throat, then began to speak.

"All right, the first thing we are going to do today is get to know each other. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. You need to say things you like, don't like, and your plans for the future. I like ramen, and Hina-" Naruto saw Hinata's younger sister, and quickly changed track. "And training! I don't like waiting for ramen to cook, or stuck up people. My goal is-"

"To become Hokage." The three genin's voices rang out in excitement (Hanako), polite interest (Daisuke), and boredom (Hikaru).

"Eh? How did you know that," asked Naruto, confused. Seeing that Hikaru was too bored to answer, and doubting that Hanako's answer would be intelligible, Daisuke took it upon himself to answer.

"Well, Naruto-sensei," he said, "Whenever Iruka-sensei gave a lesson about the Rookie Nine that mentioned you, he would always say that it was your dream to become Hokage one day. Everyone in our class knows a lot about you, Naruto-sensei."

Naruto wasn't sure whether to be proud that his accomplishments had finally earned him acknowledgement, or to be freaked out by the fact that there was a whole batch of genin running around that knew his life story. Well, most of it at least. Naruto knew that Iruka would never tell the students that Naruto held the Kyuubi inside of him.

Naruto was barely listening when Hanako launched into her tirade of likes and dislikes, which included flowers, sunshine, older sisters, bugs, snakes, bad things, good things, and every other object imaginable. He was too busy thinking about the demon housed in his stomach. Over the years, all of the Konoha Eleven had learned of Naruto's secret. He had never been so happy as the day he realized that they all knew, and that none of them cared. He had a group of true friends.

He knew, however, that not everyone was so lacking in prejudice. Many of the adult villagers still held a disliking towards him, although that was fading as his actions as a shinobi became more well-known.

Suddenly, the depth of his responsibilities struck him. He was going to mold three young lives. Change them in ways so fundamental that he would literally make them into different people. He would bare his soul to them, would trust them with his life. And they would trust him with theirs. Someday, he would tell them about the Kyuubi.

Although the goofy grin on his face never changed, Naruto became a bit more solemn. He intended to live up to this new responsibility. After all, if he couldn't look after three genin, how could he look after the whole village as Hokage?

"—And my dream is to become as strong as my cousin Neji-chan, and Hinata- nee chan!" Naruto was a moment behind in realizing the Hanako had finished with her introduction. Judging from the bored look still on Hikaru's face, and the drool dripping unnoticed from Daisuke's mouth, Naruto hadn't been the only one not paying attention.

"Um, that's great, Hanako-chan," he said with a grin. "Daisuke-san, why don't you go next?" Daisuke popped back into reality.

"Well, I'm Daisuke," said the boy as he ran his hand through his hair. "I like all the things I don't dislike, and I dislike things that I don't enjoy. My dream is to one day complete all of my goals." Naruto blinked for a moment as he realized that he couldn't understand what Daisuke said. Hikaru finally took interest.

"That doesn't mean anything," he complained. "You have to tell us _something_." Daisuke grinned.

"I did, and every word of it was true."

Seeing that Hikaru was about to start arguing, Naruto spoke up.

"Hikaru-san, it's your turn." Hikaru glared at Naruto, then sighed and gave in.

"I'm Raizen Hikaru," he said. "My parents are merchants, and I'm the only ninja in my family. I came to the Konoha Academy because I showed skill with chakra molding, and my parents are on better terms with Konoha than they are with any other village. I like napping, and dislike being bored. My dream is to someday find something at least a little interesting around here to do."

Naruto grimaced internally. _Wow, he's just like Shikamaru. Lazy, but not as much of a genius!_ Reminding himself not to judge too early, Naruto stood up.

"Okay guys, it's time for our second task for the day." Hanako once again leapt for joy, energetic and happy at the slightest provocation. Hikaru and Daisuke stood up slower, but Naruto could tell that they were ready to do something too. Reaching into his pack, Naruto brought out two bells.

"I have here with me two bells," said Naruto as he jangled them. "You are going to try to take them from me." He watched as the enormity of the task sunk in. Even Hanako, who was bright and cheerful all of the time, was skeptical.

"But, Naruto-sensei! You're a jonin," she said, "And we're genin! We can't beat you!" Naruto waved her statement aside.

"You may notice that there are only two bells," he said with an evil grin forming. "That means that only two of you will be able to get a bell. The other…" Naruto paused for dramatic effect, although he knew that Kakashi had done it better than he did. "…will be sent back to the Academy."

The three genin gasped in shock. It took every ounce of self-control Naruto had to resist from laughing and revealing the trick behind the test. For a moment, he felt almost bad for deceiving them, but he decided that he would go easier on them then Kakashi did.

"However," he continued, giving no sign of his internal emotions, "That doesn't mean that two of you will pass. Maybe none of you will get the bell, and you will all fail…" Naruto pantomimed looking at a watch, and looked back at them nonchalantly.

"You guys get to start… now!"

In a flash, all three genin were gone. _Hmmm_, thought Naruto. _Looks like none of them are going to try attacking head on like I did_. With a fox-like grin, Naruto began strolling in the direction that his students had gone.

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Hyuuga Hanako saw the kunai knife in her hand shaking, and fought to stop it. She knew what her father, Hiashi, and her sister Hanabi would say if they saw her now.

_Look at her, father. Not even as strong as Hinata._

_You are correct, Hanabi. It appears you are the only one with any of the Hyuuga talent._

Hanako tried to focus on the task at hand. She doubted that her family would even take her back into the house if she went back to the Academy. She felt the strain of her constant cheeriness beginning to take a toll on her. There were times when she wished to be more like her sister, Hinata.

_Hinata-nee chan wouldn't be afraid in this situation_, she thought. _She isn't scared of father or Hanabi at all!_ Her thoughts of her older sister increased her resolve to take on the bells dangling from Naruto's belt.

She nearly fell out of the tree branch she was sitting on when she felt a hand grasp her shoulder. However, she was both stabled and silenced by the hand clamped over her mouth.

"_Don't make any noise_," Daisuke whispered. "_I've got a plan_."

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Hikaru swore silently to himself that if _anything_ crawled, jumped, or slithered onto him while he was lying under these bushes, he would make Naruto pay. He wasn't sure exactly _how_ he was going to make one of the strongest jonin in the village pay, but he would find a way.

Hikaru watched Naruto as he walked, examining for anything that could be used as an opportunity. Unfortunately, it was hard to tell a lot about someone from the way they walk. He didn't see any obvious ways to attack that wouldn't be obvious to Naruto as well.

Hikaru was about to just throw a barrage of shuriken when he heard a crackle behind him. Turning as he drew his kunai, he managed to stop himself before he attacked Daisuke and Hanako. Although he stopped himself, he did not lower his kunai.

"_How do I know you two are really you, and not bunshins?_" Hanako looked surprised. She hadn't thought of that possibility. She was almost embarrassed at the ease with which Naruto would have been able to fool her. Daisuke shocked her, however, by raising his own kunai.

Hanako jumped away from him, and Hikaru tensed. However, fighting wasn't Daisuke's intent. Daisuke slashed a cut into his own arm. While it wasn't too serious, it did bleed.

Hikaru and Hanako couldn't hide the surprise in their faces. Daisuke, however, seemed to think nothing of his act of self-mutilation.

"_If I was a bunshin, I would have poofed away now,_" whispered Daisuke without a trace of pain in his voice. "_I have a plan to take the bells, one that will let us all pass._"

**A/N: Ouch, sorry to leave you hanging like that. Man, if I were you I would really hate me right now… Oh well. Don't worry, I plan to post the next part within the next two days. However, enough reviews could tempt me to post sooner…**

**R&R!**


	4. Bell Test Part Two

**A/N: Okay, I know some of you were mad about that cliffhanger, so here is the next chapter. Hopefully, next chapter is going to focus on Shikamaru and his squad a bit. I warn you, this is my first time with so many OCs, and I may have to struggle to give them all personality.**

**P.S. Yay! One thousand hits!**

**P.P.S. Still looking for emails concerning Japanese honorifics. Also, I want to note that this if going to be the first chapter where any techniques are used. I had originally planned to find their Japanese names, but it seemed to confusing and I will be instead using English. I apologize to all of you people who would much rather read the Japanese version. If you care enough, you can e-mail me the Japanese version of a technique name and I will update the story with it.**

Naruto walked through the field, slowly scanning the forest around him from left to right. Although he was not trying his hardest, or sensing for chakra, he couldn't immediately see where his students were hiding. _Good_, he thought, _they are much better at stealth than I was at their age_.

The quiet, humble sounds of nature were broken by the sound of footsteps behind him. Daisuke was approaching at a run, feet slapping the ground as he ran. Naruto grimaced. He had known that Daisuke had not been a very good student, but the mistakes he was making were physically painful to watch.

Even a rookie ninja could run more quietly than that, and Daisuke's stances as he approached were almost completely open to attack. Naruto sighed as he prepared to meet what was almost certainly going to be an attack more inept than his original assaults on Kakashi. He thought it likely that, if he read any of Kakashi's books, he would have been able to focus on them completely and still fight this genin.

Naruto ducked under an incredibly sloppy punch, and leaned back to avoid the follow-up kick to the face. Moving faster than Daisuke was probably able to see, he was suddenly behind the genin. Naruto grinned wickedly as he resisted the temptation to use the Thousand Years of Pain technique, and instead planted a relatively gentle kick in Daisuke's lower back.

The boy flew about twelve feet, and landed heavily. Daisuke managed to turn his landing into a roll, however, and dropped back into his terrible fighting stance. Naruto sighed as Daisuke once again began to charge. He prepared himself to meet the boys attack…

…and jumped to the left as a smaller, female hand grazed his right shoulder. As he dodged, he turned to face his attacker, and saw that the hand was that of Hanako. He recognized the technique as the Gentle Fist, and saw that her Byakugan was activated.

_She might have actually altered my chakra flow if that connected_, thought Naruto. _That was far too close._ The Hyuuga girl spun to her right and launched a turning kick with her right left. Naruto caught it in his hand, and threw her at Daisuke, almost gently. He was very ipressed.

Hanako's attacks had been fair, but nothing incredibly special. In fact, they never would have come close to connecting with Naruto if he had not been distracted by Daisuke. _In fact,_ thought Naruto,_ that is exactly what it was. A distraction!_ As he watched Daisuke and Hanako fall in next to each other, he saw Daisuke fix his stance. It was still a far cry from perfect, but several of the obvious openings were gone.

_He was fooling me_, Naruto thought,_ lulling me into a false sense of security so that Hanako could launch a sneak attack. And it nearly worked!_ Naruto grinned. His team was working together to beat him. They were doing what no team in the history of the test had done: they were passing it!

However, Naruto was careful not to let his hopes rise too far. He was not an idiot, and had noticed that Hikaru was not with them. If these two had formed an alliance, and decided to condemn their teammate to failure, then they were hardly any better than the countless genin teams before them full of members who attempted to work on their own. Naruto adopted a slightly more wary stance, determined not to be fooled by his own genin. However, it appeared that they did not intend to fool him. They rushed at him in a straight on attack.

Naruto began fending off their punches and kicks, making sure not to strike back with too much force. Now that Daisuke was no longer feigning complete ineptness, he was slightly harder to fight. However, he was still not very good with taijutsu, and it was Hanako who presented most of the challenge.

The Hyuuga had obviously trained in the use of the Gentle Fist with her sister Hinata, for Naruto saw many similarities in their fighting style. Although Hinata was a strong fighter, this training proved to be a disadvantage for Hanako. Naruto had fought alongside Hinata many times, and against her in practice quite often since she had overcome her shyness. He knew Hinata's techniques and patterns all too well, and could easily predict Hanako's next move. Of course, he could have easily fought her off even if he wasn't able to predict each attack before it came, but this made it a great deal easier.

Naruto began to grow impatient after the two attacked him without stopping for over two minutes. It should have been obvious to them that their method of attack wasn't working, and that they needed to try something else. He knew that neither of the two was stupid. Surely they must have figured that out by now.

Suddenly, the two genin broke from their attack pattern and ran straight for Naruto. He looked at them with confusion in his face as they approached. _Surely they know that this kind of a charge won't work against me_, thought the Whirlwind. He understood their plan, however, when he felt two hands gripping his feet.

_The Headhunter Jutsu!_

Naruto remember how Kakashi had used this same technique on Sasuke, and thought of the irony as he realized that one of his students was now using it on him. As he sank into the ground, Daisuke and Hanako leapt forward and each grabbed a bell. They didn't realize it, but he could have stopped them. He could have struck out with his arms and knocked them out of the air. But he didn't.

They had used teamwork to beat him. The fact that they didn't actually beat him didn't matter. They had worked together, and actually accomplished their goal. They were the first team in history to actually see down to the exercise's true purpose, and accomplish it. All that remained to be seen was how they handled the fact that there were two bells for three people.

As Naruto prepared to teleport himself out of the jutsu, he saw Hikaru leap out of the ground. _I had no idea he could use this kind of technique_, thought the jonin. _Academy tests really don't tell us everything, do they?_ As he watched, more interested in his genin's actions than in escaping the jutsu, Daisuke tossed his bell to Hikaru.

Hikaru and Hanako both brought their hands together into the hand sign to make a bunshin. However, it was not themselves they were cloning, but the bells.

Naruto grinned as he realized their plan. It was,cheeky, and probably wouldn't work under close inspection, but he liked it.

Suddenly, Hikaru and Hanako each held three bells, all of which were identical. In what seemed to be a prearranged motion, they each tossed one of the bells to Daisuke. The three then fell into what looked like a rehearsed juggling act and tossed the bells between themselves in a seemingly random order. To an observer who was not a jonin, it would be impossible to tell which of the two bells were real.

Just as Naruto teleported out of the hole in the ground, the three genin stopped their juggling. Hikaru turned to face him, slightly out of breath. The Headhunter jutsu had taken a fair amount of chakra out of him, and he was a little winded. However, even tiredness couldn't keep the victorious grin off of his face.

"We win," said Hikaru. He turned to look at Hanako and Daisuke. "We all win!"

Naruto grinned at them, and scraped a bit of dirt off of his jumpsuit.

"I suppose you do. Congratulations, you are all officially genin!" The three let out a cheer, and Hanako even hugged Hikaru and Daisuke. Both of them appeared slightly embarrassed at being hugged by a girl who was almost a stranger, but Hanako didn't seem to notice. Besides, they weren't going to let anything ruin the official acceptance of Team Three into the world of shinobi.

Naruto laughed as he watched them celebrating their victory. He decided not to tell them that he could have easily defeated them before they got to the bells, or that he still knew exactly which two of the bells were real. Their teamwork was enough, and they had by far passed his expectations. He knew that this team was going to do well.

_Only under my expert instructions, of course!_ Naruto grinned at that thought. However, than grin was slightly diminished as he looked at Daisuke.

Although the boy seemed as happy as Hikaru and Hanako, Naruto couldn't help but think it seemed a little…false. He could tell from the way that Hanako and Hikaru thanked him that the plan of attack had been Daisuke's. Naruto had also examined Daisuke closely in the fight, and noticed a few oddities. Naruto didn't have the deductive abilities of Shikamaru, but he could still draw only one conclusion.

Daisuke was holding back something.

For some reason that Naruto could not fathom, Daisuke wasn't revealing all of his strength. Not to Naruto, or his teammates, or anyone at the Academy. Naruto knew that he could not have a member on his team who could be keeping a dangerous secret.

Of course, as soon as he thought this, his mind turned to the Kyuubi. Despite the fact that he may have been committing some odd kind of hypocrisy, Naruto decided that he would investigate into Daisuke. He needed to know precisely who the boy was.

**A/N: There you have it. The conclusion of the bell test! If it is a little sloppy, forgive me. I typed it all at once, with little to no proofreading. I intend to look over it later, and replace it with a revised, proofread version. I felt a need to meet my self imposed two day deadline, however, and went ahead with the rough version.**

**Next time, we will see what Shikamaru does with his team. And when will we learn more about Daisuke?**

**Note: Hikaru is intended to be the main character on Team Three. May not come off that way yet, but hopefully it will soon.**

**Read and review!**


	5. Shikamaru's Test

**A/N: Sorry about the ridiculously long wait since my last chapter. I have had to face a combination of schoolwork and my own attempts to get several chapters ahead of my posting. Hopefully, once I write several chapters, I will be able to post regularly even if my writing slows down a bit.**

**Please review!**

Shikamaru looked at the barren patch of dirt he and his team were standing in. He wasn't sure about the capabilities of his genin yet, but unless they were exceptionally strong, this area should be large enough.

He turned to face Haruka, Kiyo, and Goren. He had only ready enough of their profiles to know their names, and to learn anything particularly exceptional about them. Shikamaru knew that his analyzing abilities were probably better than those of anyone at the Academy, and would much rather trust his own judgments than those of a stranger.

Shikamaru knew that simply looking at Haruka wasn't going to tell him a whole lot. Not if she was anything like the rest of her family. At times, it had seemed to him that the only way the Aburames could have gotten Shino to conceal his emotions so well was if they had severed all of the nerves in his face as a child.

However, seeing as Haruka seemed to be like Shino in that respect, she could be like him in others. Shikamaru knew that behind Shino's calm exterior there resided a steadfast ally and friend. Hopefully, that trait ran true in his sister.

She was dressed similarly to all of those in her family. She wore a large gray coat, with an immense collar the covered up part of her face. However, this collar was not as concealing as that of Shino's. Hopefully, Shikamaru would soon learn more about this girl.

However, Shikamaru had to admit that the two boys were also an enigma to him so far. He had never heard of Goren before, but remembered hearing the name Yagami. He didn't think it was likely that they were a prominent family, though, or he would have remembered more.

Goren's appearance gave a few clues about his personality. Shikamaru noticed a stain on his shirt, and several books in his bag that were clearly not textbooks. Putting this together with what little information he had read from the boy's profile, Shikamaru decided that it was likely that Goren did not care much for his physical appearance, and was an intellectual.

In short, a nerd.

_Not that I can really rag on someone for being brainy_, thought Shikamaru. _But still, nerds are rarely good in a fight. Unless we've got another Udon…_ Shikamaru grinned, thinking of Konohamaru's spectacled friend. Udon had begun to show his true colors as a warrior within the past several years, particularly after passing the Chuunin Exam.

Knowing that it would be unfair to hold his team up to the standards of Konohamaru's, Shikamaru decided to make judgments on the boy later. He turned to look at Kiyo.

While Goren's name may have been unfamiliar to Shikamaru, Kiyo's name didn't ring any bells at all. Shikamaru was sure that he had never heard of this boy or his family. His appearance, though, was disturbing.

He dressed simply, wearing a blue shirt and black shorts. He wore the traditional ninja sandals, and sported a kunai holster on his leg. Everything of him screamed "efficiency!" But, it was more than these things that had Shikamaru alarmed.

_His eyes,_ thought Shikamaru,, _They're like Sasuke's…_

The boy didn't look unhappy, or seem to be showing a whole lot of emotion at all. However, in his eyes, Shikamaru could see a fire. It wasn't burning with the hate that Sasuke's had, but it was there.

_I need to watch this boy carefully_, thought the jounin.

Turning his thoughts away from the currently brain-dead Uchiha, Shikamaru prepared to give his team their first assignment.

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Even as Shikamaru analyzed his students, Kiyo was analyzing him.

_I know he is one of the Rookie Nine_, thought Kiyo, _But he doesn't look that impressive. I remember hearing that he was the laziest, too._

Kiyo let out a slight frown. He intended to become as strong as possible, strong enough to fulfill his dream, and he didn't intend to let a lazy sensei get in his way.

_I will avenge them_, he thought.

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Shikamaru met the eyes of each of his students, and made sure that he had their full attention before he spoke. He doubted that they would find much else to distract them in this field, but he knew that children's minds wander.

"All right," he said. "Your first mission is fairly simple. Fight each other."

Shikamaru saw that Goren and Kiyo looked confused. He also noted that Haruka, although she showed a small amount of confusion through her glasses and collar, had tensed at his words. That meant she had been the most prepared, but also the most ready to attack her teammates.

"Shikamaru-sensei," asked Goren, "What do you mean?" Shikamaru smirked.

"What do you think I mean? I want you to attempt to defeat your teammates in combat. The two who do the best might continue to be genin. At least one of you will be sent back to the Academy."

Haruka raised her head in alarm, and passing eagles could have easily nested in Kiyo and Goren's gaping mouths.

"Back to the Academy?" Goren's tone was incredulous, as though he couldn't believe this was really happening. Shikamaru made sure to pay close attention to each of his students' reactions. If they passed this little test, he would need whatever knowledge of their psyche's that he could gain. What he saw only mildly surprised him.

Haruka, as best as he could tell, was mildly alarmed. Goren was shocked. Kiyo, however, once he had gotten past the initial astonishment, now appeared grimly determined. Shikamaru wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing. It was good for a ninja to react well to surprises, but the idea of this test was teamwork, and if Kiyo became determined to fight his teammates, he would miss the point of the lesson.

"What are the rules?" Haruka seemed ready to get down to business.

Shikamaru nodded, seeing that she was ready to get to the mission, whether she thought it was unpleasant or not.

"The only real rule I can think of would be that you should _really_ try to avoid causing death." Shikamaru yawned as he spoke, then continued. "If you did anything stupid, like try to kill each other, then I would have to stop you. That would be troublesome."

Kiyo's eye began twitching at the laziness of his sensei.

_How can he be like this, _thought Kiyo. _He's supposed to be one of Konoha's strongest jounin, but he seems so… lethargic!_

Shikamaru looked at each of them for a few moments, then nodded to himself.

"All right then. Go!"

Before any of the three genin could register what he had said, Shikamaru had vanished. 

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Goren looked around at his teammates.

"Ummm… Shall we fight, then?"

Kiyo sighed, and turned to face Goren.

"I suppose so." Kiyo turned so that he was facing Goren and Haruka both. "Sorry guys. Nothing personal, but I am going to try and beat you."

Goren nodded grimly, and dropped into a fighting stance.

"I suppose so." Although he didn't drop out of his fighting stance, Goren did turn his head to look at Haruka.

"I am sorry, Haruka. I don't really like fighting against girls." After not hearing a reply form Haruka, Goren turned his whole body to look at her. Kiyo looked as well.

Haruka was standing almost perfectly still, smiling. As Kiyo continued to look, he saw that the grin wasn't entirely normal. It reminded him of…scheming.

Before their eyes, Haruka dissolved into a shimmering mass of black bugs.

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Shikamaru could barely hold his laughter in when he saw Goren and Kiyo's reactions to their teammate's bug clone. Haruka had been thinking about the battle for more quickly than either of her teammates. Goren, for all of his textbook knowledge, apparently still had some work to do on putting it to use in the field. Shikamaru remembered how Sakura, the one of the Rookie Nine who had been the best at memorizing classroom knowledge, besides himself, had had problems using them in the field. If he remembered correctly, she hadn't begun to overcome this problem until Sasuke was nearly killed on a mission in the Land of Waves.

_Hopefully, Goren won't need anything so drastic,_ thought Shikamaru.

As he watched the two boys, and attempted to look for Haruka's new hiding spot, Shikamaru still had doubts about the test. Although Haruka was showing the best thinking so far, the point of this test was to ensure that the three genin felt a sense of teamwork. Actually, it was very similar to the bell test, with one small exception.

Shikamaru didn't have to do anything but watch.

If Haruka did not learn this before the test ended, Shikamaru would have to flunk her, along with the two boys. No matter how talented they might be.

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Haruka stood with her back to the rock. She had seen the small boulder as they walked to the clearing, in the woods just beyond where the clearing ended. As soon as the prospect of a fight came up, she had known it would be the perfect cover.

She could see from her vantage point the stunned look on her teammates' faces when her bug clone dissolved itself. Although she let no emotion show, she felt what would have amounted to a small giggle in a regular girl.

_They didn't notice when I switched myself with the clone at all, _she thought. _But, I'm pretty sure that Shikamaru-sensei did._

Haruka could see that Kiyo and Goren were skeptical of their jounin's abilities, but she knew better. She had heard Shino talking about Shikamaru's prowess. She wouldn't underestimate him.

She turned to look at her teammates, careful to remain hidden, waiting for an opening.

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Kiyo was flabbergasted. Haruka was nowhere to be found. Of course, he wasn't stupid. He had seen the bugs, and he knew of the Aburame clan's abilities, so he knew what had happened. He was actually a bit jealous that he hadn't thought of it.

Goren looked confused, and also a bit hurt that he hadn't had such a good idea.

"I guess she was a little more on the ball than we were, Kiyo-san." Kiyo looked at the slightly shorter boy and nodded.

"I suppose that leaves you and me." As he spoke, Kiyo dropped into a crouch and drew a kunai. Goren saw this and moved into a fighting stance.

"I suppose so." With those words, the two boys ran forward, kunai drawn. And Haruka watched.


	6. Shikamaru's Test Part Two

The kunai met with a clash that resounded over the nearly silent field. Kiyo and Goren's hands both shook as they pushed against each other, testing for weaknesses.

At the same time, both boys leapt back from each other. Kiyo's hands blurred in a familiar combination of hand signs.

"Wind style: Air Wave jutsu!" Goren's eyes widened as he saw a slight haze. He knew from his reading that it was a wall of condensed air traveling at a high speed. Goren leapt to his right, but he was a little too slow.

The air clipped Goren on his left shoulder and sent him spinning. He landed on his right hand, and flipped himself back to his feet. Fortunately, he was able to regain his balance quickly enough to duck under a kick from Kiyo, who had charged immediately after using his jutsu, remaining slightly behind the wall of air.

As soon as Kiyo's leg had passed over him, Goren leapt up, fist flying towards Kiyo's face. Kiyo raised his arm to block, and leapt back as he did. Goren's punch impacted, but met with very little force.

Kiyo paused, several yards away from Goren. He looked at the slightly shorter, spectacled boy with slightly more respect.

_He doesn't look very strong_, thought Kiyo, _but he is holding me off fairly well._ Kiyo shook his head slightly, attempting to dislodge the distracting thoughts from his mind. He could not afford to sympathize with his teammate, or he might be unable to win.

_It looks like I will have to pull it out_, Kiyo thought as he reached into his bag.

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Haruka frowned slightly as she watched the two boys looking at each other. She had watched every moment of their brief flurry of combat, looking for weaknesses. She did not like what she had seen.

Although the two were slightly out of breath now, it was apparent that they could keep going for a while. Their movements had also been quite fast. Although Haruka was very proficient with her clan's techniques involving bugs, perhaps even as talented as her older brother was at her age, she was not extremely talented at taijutsu.

_I want to avoid a close-quarters fight with these two_, she thought. Slowly, Haruka lowered one hand to the ground, bugs streaming out of it and crawling towards the two combatants.

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Although Goren was not foolish enough to drop from his fighting stance, he did look at the small urn Kiyo held in his hand quizzically. It was small, maybe half a foot across, and covered in symbols that Goren did not recognize.

"What is that thing?" Kiyo looked up at Goren, and smiled, almost sadly.

"It's a family heirloom. You'll see soon enough." With those words, Kiyo took a small strap that ran through the urn's handle, and tied it around his back. He then tossed the urn over his shoulder so it was resting between his shoulder blades. Finally, he reached around and popped out the cap.

Once these actions were taken, Kiyo's hands moved into seals once again. Goren immediately tensed, but then paused. He recognized those signs. They were for a water style jutsu.

_He can't use that here_, thought Goren, _there isn't any water!_

However, Goren had spoken, or thought, too soon. Kiyo brought both of his hands together, and let out a yell.

"Water style: Compressed Water Bullet!" A small, tight blob of water shot out from behind his back, and towards Goren. Eyes widening, the nerd leapt into the air, just clearing the water bullet.

Goren landed, and stared at Kiyo. _How did he do that?_

Then it clicked.

_The urn!_

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Shikamaru sat fully alert. He had seen the transpiring events from the tree where he was hidden, very close behind Haruka. He had not really cared what the urn was, but now it had his full attention.

_Where is the water coming from? _Shikamaru thought. _Is there water stored in the urn?_ He took another glance at the small urn on Kiyo's back.

_No, that's not possible. There couldn't be enough water in there to use a jutsu._ As he was thinking, Shikamaru looked at the urn more closely.

All over the urn, there were strange symbols. As he examined them from afar, Shikamaru finally remembered where he had seen them before. He had seen very similar markings on one of Lee's training weights.

The symbols were runes, writing that could perform the effects of a jutsu onto an object. Lee had used them to increase the weight of his weights without increasing their size. Now that he remembered what they were, Shikamaru looked more closely at the runes. He had only a rudimentary knowledge of them, but he knew that he should be able to piece together their function.

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Kiyo began making more seals. Goren, not willing to be caught by another surprise, ran forward and interrupted him with a kick aimed at Kiyo's stomach.

Kiyo caught Goren's foot in his hand, smirking. Goren gasped as he realized his predicament. Before he could do anything, however, Kiyo had lifted him into the air. And then, Goren was flying.

Because he had not been the one to jump, Goren found it much harder to control his landing. He took most of the impact on his right shoulder, but began to roll and bounce. When he came to a stop, the wind had been knocked out of him. He also had a small cut on his left cheek.

Kiyo walked towards him slowly. He brought his hands together in the seals for the water bullet, but very slowly. He knew that he had time now.

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Shikamaru frowned to himself as he leaned back against the tree. The runes on the urn, as far as he could tell, altered the properties of the space inside the urn. If they worked as Shikamaru thought they did, then they would basically make the space in the urn larger than the urn itself. Much larger. Large enough to hold the water for water jutsus. It was actually very similar to Gaara's gourd, but much less bulky.

However, this raised several questions. A technique like that, particularly if runes were used, would be extremely difficult to perform. Shikamaru couldn't think of any way for a family that was not extremely powerful would be able to obtain such an urn. Yet, he knew that he had never heard of any Kotames. How had this boy gotten such a powerful object?

Shikamaru stopped reflecting on this issue long enough to take in the situation among the two boys. He immediately stood on his branch. It looked as though Goren was about to be struck directly by a water bullet.

Shikamaru grimaced. It looked as though Kiyo was not grasping the lesson. With a sigh, he prepared himself to intercept the attack if he had to.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Water style: Compressed Water Bullet!"

Goren grimaced, waiting for the jutsu's impact. Instead, he heard a large crash. Regaining his breath, he opened his eyes and stood up.

Kiyo was staring at what was formerly a large rock. It was now in several pieces, and a slightly shaken Haruka was standing in the rubble.

The girl did not show surprise, but inside she was reeling.

_How did he know I was here? I was sure to keep concealed_, she thought. Even from twenty yards away, she could see Kiyo's grin.

"You really should be more careful with your kikai, bug-girl," said Kiyo. "I noticed them heading towards us on the ground, and followed them back to your rock." Haruka froze.

_He saw my bugs? How could he have been watching so closely?_

Goren grimaced at this.

_I had no idea she was there_, thought the boy. _If he was able to fight me, yet still be able to concentrate on looking for her, I must be more outmatched than I thought._

Kiyo turned to look back at Goren. The look on his face frightened him. In the Academy, Kiyo hadn't seemed very different from all of the other boys. Perhaps a bit more standoffish at times, but mostly normal. But not anymore.

Kiyo bore a look of smoldering anger in his eyes. Goren could tell that the boy was not angry at him, but the look still chilled him to the core.

_What happened to him_, thought Goren, _What made him have so much hatred?_

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Shikamaru slowly sat back down on his branch.

_It looks like my intervention wasn't needed yet,_ thought the genius.

This was a good thing, Shikamaru knew. This meant that the genin had not yet failed the test. They still had a chance to learn to work together. However, the look on Kiyo's face made Shikamaru think that it was not very likely.

_I need to learn more about this boy_, he thought.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Haruka breathed in deeply to prepare herself for the battle, and extended her arms towards the ground. Kiyo's eyes narrowed as Haruka let loose a flow of shining black insects that scurried towards him eagerly.

"Water style: Water Whip!"

A long tendril of water attached itself to Kiyo's hand, and he began to spin it above his head. The water functioned as though it were a long rope, or, more accurately, a whip.

The end lashed down with startling speed and, though it made no crack like an ordinary whip would have, sent bugs scattering from it. Using it to clear a path, Kiyo dashed in small hops between clear spaces, rapidly making his way towards Haruka.

She tensed at his arrival, and raised her hands in defense. She was, however, too slow, and the whip struck her in the side.

Only to tear through her, as she dissolved into yet another mass of bugs.

_Crap, another bug clone_, thought Kiyo as he watched the bugs sink to the ground. He began to look around himself for signs of the real Haruka, but felt a rush of wind behind him.

Kiyo attempted to jump forward, but there was still an impact on the back of his head. Instead of allowing the punch to knock him over, he moved with the force, turning his leap into a flip. He landed on his feet and whirled around, expecting to see Haruka rushing towards him. To his surprise, it was Goren.

Goren grinned, panting.

"You didn't think I was going to just lie on the ground forever, did you?" Kiyo silently swore under his breath. He had forgotten about the boy, and had assumed that the landing from Goren's fall had left him helpless. Obviously, he had assumed wrong.

Suddenly, a slight movement behind Goren made Kiyo smirk. Maybe he wouldn't have to tangle with the boy after all.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Haruka rose from her hiding space in the grass, just behind Goren. She was fairly sure that he had not seen her. It was the perfect opportunity for an ambush.

She had carefully observed their fighting strategies, and had decided that Kiyo was definitely the stronger fighter. She did not like her chances in a fight against him.

However, she knew that if she wanted to remain a genin, she would have to pass this test. That meant that one of the two boys had to be defeated. To her, Goren seemed to be an easier target.

All of these rationalizations were second nature to the Aburame. Her clan was well known for its rationality in the face of hardship. Some even accused them of having no feelings.

This was ridiculous, of course. Everyone has emotions. Haruka knew that many of her classmates did not realize this, but it was true. She merely did not let emotions influence her decisions in battles.

Of course, even if she did allow her emotions to change her thinking, it would have made no difference here. She did not know either of these boys well enough to change her decision on which one she targeted. Goren would have been the one she chose, regardless.

Of course, that wasn't going to do him much good when he was unconscious.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Goren heard the footsteps behind him. He turned and saw the girl running towards him. His eyes widened, but he did not reach to strike out. Instead, he jumped backwards and narrowly avoided the punch that had been aimed towards the back of his skull.

As he landed, Goren realized that he had landed even closer to Kiyo. He twisted just before his feet hit the ground, and used his forward momentum to add force to a kick he sent the taller boy's way.

Kiyo blocked it with his left hand, and punched out with his right. Goren managed to lean back far enough to avoid the hit, though. He stepped away from Kyo, but then looked back towards the rapidly advancing Haruka.

Goren was trapped between his teammates.

**A/N: Two little things I thought were worth mentioning.**

**1. I had just finished typing most of the chapter, when my little brother saw the water whip jutsu and said, "Hey! That's from Avatar!" I realized after he said that that he is right. That was not intentional, but I decided to keep it. It was a struggle to think of water jutsus that didn't seem to be too powerful. Yes, I know Gamabuta used water bullet, but that doesn't mean it has to be complex.**

**2. I am slightly sad now, because the manga has finally reached a point where it contradicts my story. Oh well, had to happen eventually. It is official now: this story could not happen!**

**Please review!**


	7. Shikamaru's Test Part Three

Shikamaru watched the genin from his tree, but his eyes were continually drawn to the clouds.

_It's not really my fault_, he told himself as he observed a large, white behemoth floating over him. _They are being incredibly uninteresting right now._

It was true. The genin had been in a three way melee for the past few minutes. Shikamaru had been watching them long enough to gauge their skills, but it became very repetitive.

He found himself staring into the sky, thinking. He noticed one small cloud that was moving quickly with the wind.

The wind, of course, reminded him of Temari.

It had been far too long since they had seen each other. Of course he remembered every moment like it was yesterday, but at the same time he felt it had been a lifetime ago.

They had last been together when they were both proctoring the Chuunin Exams. Shikamaru had recently received the rank of jounin, and Temari had been sure to tease him about it.

_Flashback_

**A/N: This is my first attempt at writing like this. _Really _hope it isn't too…fluffy.**

"_Hey, crybaby."_

_Shikamaru turned around and saw her. She was standing with one hand on her hip, the other on her gigantic fan. She wore her trademark smirk, and reminded Shikamaru of the first day he saw her._

_He walked over and embraced her. She returned it happily, and then stepped back to look at him._

"_So, you finally became a jounin," she said with a grin. "That's good. You only had to take out two S-class missing-nin, and then work a few more years to do it." Shikamaru grunted, and ran a hand through his hair._

"_You're brother's the Kazekage, he was prejudiced when he chose to promote you," said Shikamaru. He instantly froze when he saw the glare in Temari's eye._

"_Are you saying that I don't deserve to be a jounin?" Shikamaru grimaced._

"_Women are so troublesome... I missed you." Temari's glare melted away._

"_Me too."_

_End Flashback_

Shikamaru sighed. He and Temari had both known, ever since they revealed their feelings to each other, that a relationship between them couldn't work. They lived in two different ninja villages. Even if those villages were allied now, and looked likely to be allied for a long time, they each owed a loyalty to their own Kage. They knew that this would lead to arguments and fights. Possibly even actual, literal fights.

Shikamaru grimaced, slightly bitterly. _What is the point of being a genius_, he thought,_ if I can't even figure out how to stay with her?_

The young jounin shook his head. He needed to stop pitying himself. He had a team to look after. Shikamaru ripped his gaze from the clouds and looked down at the combating genin.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Duck, punch, kick. Bob, weave. Goren was starting to get dizzy.

The three genin had been fighting nonstop for several minutes. None of them had decided to use any jutsus, but Goren suspected that he knew why. Haruka probably didn't have very large chakra reserves, and Kiyo was probably tired from his fight with Goren.

_It looks like this is all about taijutsu now_, thought Goren as he ducked under a punch from Haruka.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Haruka blinked as a drop of sweat trickled into her left eye. It stung for a moment, but then a small bug crawled out of a hole that appeared in her face, and removed the nuisance.

Although Goren was correct in assuming that Haruka would not be using any more jutsus in this fight, he was incorrect in his reasons why. Haruka was a girl, and was small for her age at that. As a result, her kikai colony was smaller than that of her brother's had been. She was working to make it larger, but in the meantime, the majority of her bugs were lying on the ground, confused by Kiyo's water whip.

_I should not have closed into melee with these two_, thought Haruka. _I am outmatched, I should have retreated and attempted to re-gather my kikai colony_.

It was galling to her pride to admit it, but Haruka was forced to admit that both Goren and Kiyo were stronger than her, at least physically. In fact, she was unsure of why she had not yet been defeated.

She took a careful look at the battlefield. She, Goren, and Kiyo were currently in a triangle, but their grouping had fluctuated throughout the course of the battle. As she watched, she realized that the only real fluctuation was Goren moving from side to side relative to the line made by her and Kiyo. In short, Goren was usually between her and Kiyo.

_That doesn't make any sense,_ thought Haruka. _Anyone with half a brain knows that when fighting two opponents, staying in the crossfire is a loser strategy._ She could not fathom why he would remain at such an obvious disadvantage.

The more she thought about this, and the more the three fought, she came to notice something. In all of their sparring, whenever she tried to strike Goren, he dodged or blocked. He had not once tried to strike her.

She was baffled, though she never let it show. Why was he not striking her? After a moment, she decided to speak.

"What is your plan, Yagami-san?" Haruka did not like how out of breath she was. She had to be stronger than this, didn't she? How could these two boys run her down so easily?

Goren looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?" Haruka noted that he was panting as well. "And you can call me Goren-san, or Goren-kun, we are teammates."

"I suppose you think I am blind," retorted Haruka. "In the whole of the time we have been fighting, you have not attempted to strike me once. Do you think I am too weak to fend off your blows?"

Kiyo listened to their conversation even as he fought. He had noticed Goren's hesitance to strike a while ago, even though it did not extend to him. He had not been able to think of any good reasons not to hit the girl.

"No, it isn't that, Haruka-san!" Goren actually looked a little flushed, although it may have been from the exertion of fighting for several minutes on end. "It's just, well…I consider myself to be a gentleman, of sorts. A gentleman never strikes a lady!"

If not for the intense training and emotional discipline that the two had, Haruka and Kiyo would have sweat-dropped and fallen to the ground.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Shikamaru nearly fell out of his tree from laughing.

_He doesn't believe in hitting women? How could Iruka miss a trait like that?_ Shikamaru reflected on the women he had been forced to fight over the years. He was actually startled to find that he had fought very few men.

_I suppose it's a good thing that I don't have any such chivalrous notions_, thought Shikamaru as he settled back down onto his branch, _or I would be dead. I need to teach this boy that, too. If he passes this test…_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"You don't believe in hitting girls?" Kiyo said it more as a statement than as a question. "How do you expect to be a ninja if you can never fight a kunoichi?" There was no doubt about it now, Goren was embarrassed.

"I didn't say I won't hit a girl, I said I won't hit a lady," huffed the boy as he sidestepped a kick. "If I am forced to fight a girl, the chances are likely that she has done something to make me no longer consider her a lady."

There was silence as they fought for a while, as Kiyo and Haruka struggled to understand the logic Goren was using. Kiyo decided to give up after a moment.

"This has gone on long enough." With those words, Kiyo rushed forward.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Shikamaru saw Kiyo's dash, and began taking more interest in the fight. Something was about to change.

_I suppose I should be rooting for one of them to figure out that they need teamwork_, thought Shikamaru, _but it would be a lot less troublesome for me if they all failed._

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Goren's eyes widened as Kiyo ran forward. He didn't have time to block the foot heading towards his stomach. As it connected, Goren let out a grunt of air, and flew backwards.

The boy impacted with Haruka, and the two toppled to the ground, with Goren on top. Normally this would be an awkward situation, but Goren was too busy regaining his breath, and Haruka too busy trying to see where Kiyo was to notice.

The two genin lay on the ground, helpless to do anything as Kiyo approached them.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kiyo stopped a few paces away from the pair. He looked at them, as they lay on the grass. He was adruptly aware of the sun beating down on his face, the wind blowing gently through the surrounding trees.

The day was a beautiful day. Not a day where someone's dreams are crushed.

_But my dreams were crushed on a day like this, a long time ago_, thought Kiyo. _Do they deserve any different?_

Kiyo stared at the two, knowing that he should finish them. Two swift blows, one to each of them. Then they would be unconscious, and Kiyo would be a genin for good.

Before he could ready himself to strike, Kiyo found himself reflecting. Reflecting on a day long since past, with none like it ever to come again.

_Flashback_

"_Kiyo!"_

_Kiyo turned, a child of six. He had known the owner of the voice before he turned, having heard it a thousand times since his birth. He knew the voice of his father like he knew his own hand._

"_Father, what is it?" Kiyo ran to his father with the abandon that all children that age possess, before it is stolen by time. However, as he approached, he noticed a stern look on his father's face._

"_Kiyo, I just received a message from one of the parents of a child at your school," said Kiyo's father. Kiyo looked at him blankly as he continued. "She said that you mocked her child today, and that the poor girl went home in tears."_

_Kiyo stared at the floor. For a true parent, spankings are never necessary. Scorn is a much more effective tool._

"_I was just teasing," argued Kiyo. "Besides, she was spouting nonsense. She said that one day, she would be the most famous artist in the world! There's no way she can do that, I've seen her drawings!"_

_Kiyo wilted as soon as he finished his speech, he saw the look on his father's face. His father was a kind men, but just because someone is kind does not mean that they can't become angry. It only makes them all the more to be feared when they do._

_Kiyo looked at the ground once more, expecting a punishment. To his surprise, his father spoke to him gently._

"_Kiyo, listen to me. You may be too young to understand this, but one day you may have a dream just like that girl. But the thing about dreams is that they often seem unrealistic, or even impossible. That is why they are called dreams." He reached out and put a hand on Kiyo's shoulder. "You must understand this someday, Kiyo. A dream can take the meekest person, and make them strong. A dream can make the most timid person into a lion. Dreams are the most important thing a person can have. One of the worst things a person can do is to try and take away the dream of another."_

_Kiyo began to cry as his father was speaking. He hadn't thought of the consequences of his actions that day; few children actually do. His father understood him, though._

"_Don't worry, Kiyo. Your behavior today was rude, and deserves an apology. But, I don't think that girl is going to let her dream die because of you. However, you need to apologize to her, and encourage her. Do you remember her name?"_

_Kiyo nodded as he wiped away his tears._

"_Ukari Hitami."_

_End Flashback_

Kiyo's fist shook slightly as he remembered that day. He knew what he had to do.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Goren winced as he saw Kiyo's hand heading for him and Haruka.

_At least,_ he thought, _I am on top of her, and she might get some protection…_

Imagine Goren's surprise when the hand, not balled into a fist as Goren had thought, reached down and grasped his. Kiyo pulled Goren to his feet, and then did the same for Haruka. The Aburame looked at him warily, while Goren merely stared.

"What is the meaning of this, Katame-san?" The Aburame girl had decided something; she had no idea what motivated boys. They were full of unpredictable, irrational behavior.

Kiyo grinned, and put his hand behind his head.

"They did put us on a team, right? I guess I was just thinking, teammates shouldn't be fighting each other."

The two genin just stared. Who was this carefree, smiling boy? Just a moment ago, they had been facing a formidable fighter, with hatred in his eyes. He had changed rapidly into a goofball.

"Very good, Kiyo." The three genin whirled around at the unexpected voice. Shikamaru was standing behind the group, slouching with his hands in his pockets.

"You guys might not have realized this yet, but the purpose of this exercise isn't for you to beat each other." The genin looked at him blankly.

"Then why did you want us to fight?" Goren was obviously a bit confused.

"Actually," said Shikamaru, "I didn't want you to fight. What I say I want and what I want aren't always the same thing. Remember that ninjas must see through deception." Shikamaru sighed, and looked at the clouds even as he continued to speak to the three.

"Your team is going to be the most important group of people you have around you. More important than family or friends. If you don't work with your teammates, and know them well, then someone may die. Maybe not you, maybe not even one of your teammates, but someone we are supposed to protect may die." Shikamaru stopped looking at the clouds, and stared at each genin's eyes.

"That is the true responsibility of being a ninja. You know that lives depend on you, and how well you work with your team. Your teammates are your comrades, they are your family. Remember that well."

With those parting words, Shikamaru walked away without looking back.

_I'm surprised that those three passed_, he thought. _I was sure that Kiyo was going to knock them out. Still, he pulled through._ Shikamaru was still a bit troubled, though. He knew that Kiyo was the only one who had showed any real teamwork. The other two still needed to work on that.

He was, however, impressed with the three's combat skills. All of them had seemed to be passable, at the very least, with taijutsu, and Kiyo's skill with water jutsus was extraordinary. But Shikamaru still wanted to know where a boy with no reputable family had received such a valuable combat item.

Trying to find the silver lining in every cloud, Shikamaru felt the photos in his pockets. He had decided to snap a quick photo of Goren lying on top of Haruka, just in case either of the two decided to be rebellious later on.

Blackmail was so easy for geniuses.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Goren sat on his bed and stared at the wall. He had thought himself to be a strong ninja, probably one of the best in his class. He had never expected Kiyo to be so strong.

_I wasn't able to beat him_, he thought. _If he had been a true enemy, then I would be dead. And so would Haruka._ As he pondered this, he knew that he had to become stronger. He only hoped Shikamaru would be up to the task of training him.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Haruka was having a similar reflection in her own bedroom. She had avoided most of her parents' and brother's questions about her first day, other than to tell them she had passed. If they had noticed her reluctance to answer, they had not commented.

She knew that either of the boys on her team could have defeated her. She couldn't understand how this was true. She was heralded among her clan as being very well endowed with Aburame talent. She had gone through the Academy expecting to be ahead of almost everyone else.

She knew that the current situation meant one of two things. Either she was weaker than she thought, or her team was exceptionally strong. She suspected the latter.

Haruka's eyes narrowed slightly, one of the most obvious outward signs of emotion she had shown in years. She would become stronger, and would not hold her team back.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kiyo sat in the field, staring at the stars. He knew that today his father would have been proud of him. However, he was surprised at his own weakness. He had not thought that a mere memory would be strong enough to influence his decisions.

The more he reflected, the more he thought that it was not too surprising. After all, he treasured every memory he had of his mother and father.

After all, he couldn't get any new ones. Not after his entire home village was burned to the ground.

**A/N: Sweet! Longest chapter yet! Next week, hoping to get back to Naruto's squad, or maybe just show some interaction between different characters. Writing about two different squads of OC's is harder than I thought!**

**Please, review and tell me what you think. I don't care if you just point out typos, just review if you can.**


	8. Teachers' Reflections

Naruto had a huge grin on his face when he walked into the front door of the Academy. It had been a long time since he had been in the place, and he reflected fondly on the memories he had as he walked towards Iruka's office.

"Oi! Iruka-sensei!" Iruka looked up from the paperwork that was burying a large portion of his desk, and smiled as he saw his favorite student.

"Naruto, you really don't have to call me sensei anymore," said Iruka as he stood to greet Naruto. "I don't think I have been able to teach you anything for some time now."

"You will always be my sensei, Iruka-sensei." Iruka smiled even more at these words.

"How did your team fare, Naruto?"

Naruto burst with pride as he remembered the reason for his visit.

"They passed, Iruka-sensei, with flying colors!" Naruto began emphasizing his words with hand movements, a sign that Iruka recognized as a warning that Naruto was going to rant. "They worked together, without even being tied to a pole, and I have Hinata-chan's sister, and they got a bell!"

Naruto was speaking quickly, but Iruka was able to manage understanding the babble.

"They got a bell? Off of you?" Iruka had never heard of a team that worked well enough to get a bell from their jounin sensei, especially without being told the point of the exercise first.

"Yep," said Naruto. "I'm pretty sure that Daisuke was the one who engineered it. He and Hanako attacked me, trying to distract me while Hikaru use an earth style jutsu to sneak at me from underneath."

Iruka looked slightly puzzled.

"That's odd," he said. "Daisuke never seemed to have any sort of leadership ability here at the Academy. I wonder why he is doing so well now?"

Naruto began to look slightly less happy, as he remembered the fight against his students.

"I know what you mean, Iruka-sensei. I think he is hiding his strength, or at least hiding something. I intend to find out what, eventually."

Iruka nodded in approval.

"Well, when you do find out, I want to know." Iruka then grimaced as he looked down at the mountain of paperwork concerning graduations that covered his desk. "Well, I suppose your team will be one of the three that passes, then."

Naruto perked up at this information.

"Do you know which other teams made it through the cut?"

Iruka took a glance at his papers.

"Well…Shikamaru and his team passed, apparently."

Naruto nodded. _No surprises there,_ he thought.

"The other team that passed was led by…Neji."

"Neji has a team? I didn't know that."

Iruka looked up from the paperwork at the confused Naruto.

"He wasn't scheduled to, but apparently one of the jounin who was scheduled to become an instructor died on a mission very recently, and no one else was able to step up to fill his place."

Naruto grinned. _I'm going to get a chance to show up Neji, maybe even in front of Hinata-chan! I need to make sure my team is the best!_

After chatting for a few more minutes about old friends, and past times at the Academy, Iruka finally waved off Naruto.

"I need to finish off this monster of a stack of paperwork, or Tsunade-sama will have my head." Iruka let out a grimace. "I suppose you'll be going to Ichiraku's to celebrate?"

Naruto drooped slightly.

"Yeah…Ichiraku's."

Naruto turned and left. Iruka's smile slowly slipped away. _I know that tone_, he thought. _He isn't going to Ichiraku's at all._

_He's going…there._

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Shikamaru never fumbled with the lighter anymore. He also never choked on his cigarette. Although he no longer smoked regularly, he still visited Asuma's grave often enough that he was still in practice.

He stood for a while, looking at the gravestone. He had a little tradition of smoking one cigarette every time he came. Seeing as he only visited Asuma's grave around once a week, he didn't feel that he was in any serious danger of lung cancer.

As always, Shikamaru looked around before he spoke. It would not do to be seen talking to himself.

"Hey, Asuma-sensei. I suppose you, being in heaven, already know about my team." Shikamaru let out a weak laugh. "In fact, you probably know them better than I do. Feel free to give me advice." Shikamaru looked up expectantly for a moment, then laughed. "No, I thought not."

Shikamaru began pacing back in forth, in front of the grave. He stared up at the clouds as he spoke.

"They did well…very well. I didn't expect them to be so proficient in combat. Especially that Kotame kid." Shikamaru sighed, exhaling a lungful of smoke. "He worries me, Asuma-sensei. I can see that he has a lot of hate, like Sasuke. Should I be worried?" Staring once again at the unresponsive stone, Shikamaru stopped pacing.

"I'm going to try to be as good a sensei as you were. Wish me luck."

With that, Shikamaru walked away, his cigarette discarded on the ground.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The hospital room was clean, and well lit. Despite the fact that its resident had been in a deep coma for nearly seven years, he was still an S-ranked shinobi, and he had several friends around to make sure he received the best care possible. Besides, no one on the hospital staff wanted to risk the ire of Uchiha Sasuke, if he ever woke up.

Naruto eased into the chair next to Sasuke's bed, a familiar motion that he had practiced often in the first few months following the retrieval of Sasuke. He leaned back, rocking the chair on his legs, not even looking at the calm face, the face that could have been sleeping, but wasn't.

"Hey, Sasuke-teme." Naruto didn't put any feeling into the insult, he no longer hated Sasuke. He was merely filled with regret. "I got a genin team today."

Naruto laughed as he supplied Sasuke's side of the conversation to himself.

"I know, it is a sad day when a dobe like me gets a team," he said. "But, I guess Tsunade-obaa chan (**A/N: I hope that is spelled right**) thought I would be a good teacher. I'm pretty sure that I won't be as good as Iruka-sensei, or Kakashi-sensei, or Ero Sennin."

Naruto then did something he hadn't done in a long time. He looked at Sasuke directly in the face.

Normally, Naruto avoided this. He wanted to remember Sasuke as he was. He didn't want to see those sunken cheeks, that wasted face, far too thin from years of receiving no nutrients other than those that life support provided. He did not want to see the curse marks that were permanently etched onto Sasuke's face, locked into place by the failed Immortality jutsu.

Despite the feelings welling up inside of him, Naruto spoke while looking his adversary, his rival, his nakama in the face.

"I'm not going to let any of my team be like you, Sasuke." Naruto's voice began hard. "I'm going to make sure that none of them ever leave. That they stay with their comrades. I'm not going to fail them."

_Like I failed you._

The words were left unspoken, but they rang through Naruto's mind over and over again, as they had for years.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Tsunade rose from her desk, leaving behind the village-load of paperwork that she was supposed to complete. She knew that Shizune would devour her alive if she wasn't done on time, but she knew that if she didn't take a break soon, she would probably punch the next person who walked through her door.

She leaned out of the open window, staring at the village that surrounded her tower. Sometimes she felt that, with so much work, she rarely had time to admire the village that she spent all of her time protecting. With a reflective sigh, she turned back towards her desk only to find Jiraiya standing a few inches behind her.

Fortunately her shinobi reflexes enabled her to stifle the rather un-Hokagelike shriek of surprise that nearly came from her mouth. Instead, she put her hands on her hips, and with a frown, demanded "What are you doing here, Jiraiya? I thought you were out 'researching.'"

Jiraiya let out a grin.

"Very funny," said the Toad Sage. "You know very well that I've been looking for the last remaining members of Akatsuki." At this, Tsunade became more serious.

"And what have you found?"

The grin left Jiraiya's face, as he gave his report.

"I've been looking around, calling in favors and the like, and I've discovered some interesting information. I discovered that Toby, Kisame, and Deidara are all dead."

Tsunade let out a small gasp.

"All dead? But that means…"

Jiraiya nodded grimly.

"Yes. The only surviving member of the criminal organization Akatsuki is Uchiha Itachi. And, I've discovered something else. The one who killed the last vestiges of Akatsuki…is also Uchiha Itachi."

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Naruto lost track of the time he spent in the chair at Sasuke's bedside. He often sat there for hours on end, only disturbed when hospital staff members came to move Sasuke, to prevent bed sores. This time, he was shaken out of his reverie by a gentle hand on his shoulder. Its touch was so familiar that Naruto knew who it would be before he even turned around.

"Hinata-chan…"

He stood, turned around, and embraced her all in one move. She returned the embrace too, albeit awkwardly. She had spent years in a household with her father, Hiashi, and her sister Hanabi, and many others who had many better things to do than hugging.

After Naruto released her, she spoke to him. Her voice was not as timid as it had once been, but she was still a far cry from being bold.

"Naruto-kun, I heard that your team passed. I'm so happy for you…" She blushed as she said this, a habit that she had not been entirely cured of.

Naruto nodded, happy to have a slight distraction from Sasuke.

"Yeah, they did great." Adruptly, Naruto became slightly more serious, and embraced Hinata once more.

"Eventually, your father will find out about us, Hinata-chan."

She stiffened slightly in his arms. It was a long moment before she spoke, even more softly than before.

"He would never approve."

Naruto pulled his head back to look at her.

"Then I guess it's a good thing that I don't care."

The two left the hospital hand in hand, leaving Sasuke behind them.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hanako walked into her father's chambers slowly, her eyes on the floor in front of her. The cheery, almost manic demeanor that she wore in public was gone, replaced by that of a subdued daughter. As she approached her father, she slowed down even more, finally coming to a stop a few feet in front of him.

For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, Hiashi just looked at her. Hanako was staring at the floor, but she knew that his eyes were fixed on her. The silence was maddening, the silence that had plagued her childhood. The silence drove her to say things, anything, while in public, in order to escape that silence whenever possible. Of course, this led to her being seen as odd, but that was a small price to pay.

At long last, Hiashi spoke.

"I received your first day's report from…Uzumaki." Hanako did not miss the disdain that was dripped into the name of her sensei. She did not understand why her father would disapprove of her new sensei, however. He was legendary!

"When Hanabi went into a genin team, she excelled, and passed her first Chuunin Exam." Hanako cringed, once again being compared to Hanabi. "Even Hinata was not a complete failure. Do not bring disgrace upon this family, Hanako."

"Yes, sir."

Hanako looked up just in time to see the curt nod that meant she was dismissed. Without another word, she strode away to her room, to await the arrival of her oldest sister or Neji, the only two Hyuuga she could talk to.

OoOoOoOoO

Hikaru played with a coin, flipping it idly between his fingers. It was a nifty trick, and one that had taken him weeks to perfect. He knew that, along with looking cool, the trick also improved his dexterity, which was important for a shinobi.

After the coin had gone around his hands a few times, Hikaru slipped up and it fell to the ground. He frowned as he looked at the coin, not moving to pick it up. He had worked at this trick for a very long time, he never messed up anymore.

After thinking for a moment, he realized that he was troubled. Hikaru was used to making these calm introspections upon himself. He was nearly, _nearly_ as logical as an Aburame, although he did not consider himself anywhere near as emotionless.

_It must have something to do with the test today_, thought Hikaru. _But I don't know why…we did well._ Hikaru began thinking about the test, and what had happened. After he spent several minutes this way, inspiration struck him.

_Daisuke!_

If Daisuke had not come up with his plan, it was likely that Hikaru, along with Hanako, would have gone after the bell single handedly, and failed miserably. _It is entirely thanks to Daisuke that we even passed! _Hikaru was troubled by this thought. _I know that teams are supposed to help you, but to think I was so close to failing…_

Hikaru shuddered slightly as the thought of what would have happened if he had failed. He remembered the taunts, the jeers…

_Flashback_

"_You? A ninja? Don't make me laugh!"_

"_Stop laughing at me, Taru!" Hikaru glared at his cousin. Taru was eight, and two years old than Hikaru. "If I want to be a ninja, then I can!"_

_Taru just began laughing harder. He leaned in close to Hikaru, and began speaking._

"_Hikaru, you can never be a ninja. No matter what you do, you will be the son of a merchant. A weak, sniveling brat!"_

_End Flashback_

It wasn't only his cousin that teased Hikaru. The school he went to was full of children from less well-off families, who made it a point in their day to remember to tease Hikaru. Everywhere he went, he couldn't escape the trappings of his wealth.

He remembered the day he decided to become a ninja. His family had been shocked, but he refused to take no for an answer. He had been determined to make his own name, through his own strength.

Hikaru put the coin away, and got into his bed. He vowed to pour himself into his training. _I won't need Daisuke, or Hanako, or even Naruto-sensei to save me next time_, he swore to himself.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Daisuke closed the door to his apartment behind him, and took off his shoes. He looked around, surveying his abode.

It was cluttered to be sure, and could not truthfully be classified as clean. But, it was enough, and the untidiness was kept to a level far below what one would expect of a preteen boy living on his own.

Daisuke walked to the window, and stared out at the training ground where his future had so recently been decided. He had decided that, so far, he liked his teammates, and his sensei.

He knew that he had a mission to complete, however. He would not forget that.

_I'm working as quickly as constraints will allow_, thought Daisuke. _I can't wait until I see you again…mother…father…_

**A/N: There! A new chapter, my second longest to date! I've been trying to add some depth to all of the characters, hopefully that worked. I can't say I'm a huge fan of writing for Naruto, it's a little tricky to write from his point of view because I am nothing like him. Oh well, hopefully it worked out to be acceptable, at least.**

**Read and review!**


	9. First Mission! Nakama? Fish!

**A/N: Oh, goodie…first chapter that will really attempt to feature both teams. This is probably going to end up being long…**

Naruto sat on the bank of the river, tempted to take off his shoes and relax in the warm grass. His training as a ninja, however, which required him to be ready to fend off an attack at any time, managed to keep him fully clothed. The same could not be said for his students.

Daisuke, Hikaru, and Hanako were all waist deep in the river, wearing swimming suits. Their fishing rods lay abandoned on the ground, long since replaced by bare hands.

Team Three's first D rank mission was a request from an elderly fisherman who lived on the outskirts of Konohagakure. He had broken his leg in a fall a few days before, and was unable to catch fish. In order to meet the various contracts with restaurants around the village, he had hired the shinobi to catch fish for him until his wound healed.

Although his team had not been excited at first by the idea of fishing for an entire day (particularly the energetic Hyuuga, who had very little patience for such slow paced activities), Naruto had been able to make it seem like a much more enjoyable task.

First, he had pointed out that they would be able to spend most of a hot summer day swimming, or at least near water. As this summer had been full of record-breaking heat, the three genin had reacted favorably to this idea. Also, trying to catch fish with bare hands was excellent training for hand-to-eye coordination. At least, that was what Naruto told his team.

_Well, they seem to be enjoying themselves,_ thought Naruto. _They took to this like…well…like fish to water._ Laughing to himself at his own lame pun, Naruto remembered how the day had started out.

_Flashback_

_Naruto leaned on the tree, watching his two male students approaching. Daisuke was chatting happily. Hikaru, while not being completely unresponsive, was letting Daisuke do the vast majority of the talking._

"_I see that most of my students are here," Naruto said. "I see that you are wearing your swim trunks, like I asked." The boys were wearing bathing suits instead of normal short. "I suppose that you two can get started while we wait for Hanako."_

_The two got into the river and began attempting to grab the fish, Daisuke talking without cease. After about twenty minutes, Hanako ran down the path and came to a halt in front of Naruto, panting._

"_I'm sorry I'm late, Naruto-sensei," gasped Hanako as she tried to regain her breath. "I had to discuss some matters with my father, and they took longer than I expected."_

_Naruto chuckled a bit. He knew Hiashi by reputation, having heard many stories about him from Hinata. His opinion of the man…was not high, to say the best._

"_It is fine, Hanako." Naruto grinned. "At least you aren't as late as my sensei used to be. He comes up with really lame excuses, too…" Naruto started laughing, remembering old times. Then, he remembered something. "Hanako, where is your swimsuit? You don't want to get your jacket wet, do you?"_

_Hanako shook her head._

"_I'm wearing it under the jacket, sensei."_

_With that, she walked down to the water to join her male teammates. Once they had seen her, Daisuke and Hikaru walked over to the bank to greet her. They had just arrived when she began to pull her jacket over her head, revealing her swimsuit underneath._

_When she had pulled the jacket completely off her head, and was able to see again, neither of her teammates was visible. Some air bubbles rushed up from underwater, and a small cloud of red from the two boys' nosebleeds clouded the water._

_Hanako looked around for a moment, confused. Then, she squealed, a loud sound that made Naruto wince in pain, even through his laughter._

"_Are they drowning! AHHH!"_

_End Flashback_

**A/N: I couldn't resist putting that in there. Sorry.**

After a lot of confusion on the part of Hanako, and embarrassment from the two boys, the fishing had resumed, and Naruto had continued to watch. He himself had experienced no nosebleed, his time with Jiraiya having purged him of any such tendencies. He began laughing to himself, imagining what Jiraiya's reaction would have been if he had been there.

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Just outside of a women's hot spring, a sudden flurry of sneezes erupted.

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Shikamaru frowned as he crouched behind a box in the alley. His students were just around the corner, and had been the past fifteen minutes. He had been in his position as they all arrived, and he had not heard any of them speak a single word.

_This is troublesome_, thought Shikamaru as he leaned against the wall. He felt his jounin vest stick to something, and regretted his leaning instantly. _That exercise yesterday didn't work as well as I thought it would._

Thinking back, Shikamaru had realized that he may have made a mistake using his test instead of the original bell test. The bell test united the students against a common enemy. While his test did encourage teamwork, Shikamaru had forgotten to take into account that his students would not quickly forget that they had been fighting against each other.

Whatever the reason, Shikamaru could tell that his team wasn't bonding. He knew that if they were to function well as ninja, which could affect their survival, they needed to be close. Something had to be done. Hopefully, their first mission would help with that, even if it was a D rank.

Shikamaru slowly stood up, stretched himself out, and walked around the corner. He tried to appear as though he just arrived, and had not been eavesdropping for the past twenty minutes.

"Good morning, kids," he said with a yawn. "Excited about your first mission?"

There was a silence. Kiyo looked as though he didn't care, Haruka simply wore the emotionless mask that she always did, and Goren wasn't the type of person to speak up. Surprisingly enough it was Haruka that broke the silence.

"Sensei…" Shikamaru perked up. Was she going to say something about her teammates? About the mission?

"…you have a large amount of chewing gum on your back."

Shikamaru looked around, and sure enough, there was a large pink blob on his back. With a sigh, he plucked it off and flicked it to the ground.

"Thank you, Haruka. Your mission today, actually, has a lot to do with that gum." Shikamaru could see that his students were slightly confused. "You need to clean up this alley, and this street."

Kiyo finally looked up, paying attention for the first time of the day.

"Shikamaru-sensei, how does this help us become stronger ninjas?" Shikamaru gave a small smile.

"Quite frankly, it doesn't help you become stronger." Shikamaru held up a hand, knowing what Kiyo would ask before he even said it. "We are doing this, Kiyo, because there is more to being a ninja than simply strength. We are here to protect this village, and this mission is to remind you that you are here to serve."

_Wow,_ thought Shikamaru, _I almost bought that excuse myself…_

"Anyways," Shikamaru said, straightening his vest, "You guys get to work. I'll be here to check up on you in about an hour." As he turned to leave, Shikamaru glanced back at his team.

"By the way…whatever is going on between you guys, clear it up now. If there's still tension from yesterday, forget it. If you three get this moody every time you spar, then you will be a failure as a team. You are going to trust each other with your lives, and you need to function as a team."

Leaving the team to reflect on those words, Shikamaru jumped out of sight. The clouds were beautiful at this time of the morning…

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Ow! Owowowowowowow!"

"Oh shut up, Daisuke-san," said Hikaru. "The fish wasn't even that big."

"It's teeth were," muttered Daisuke, as he threw his catch onto the pile.

Hanako looked at the small wound on Daisuke's arm anxiously.

"Daisuke-chan, you're bleeding!" She pointed at his arm dramatically. Daisuke and Hikaru stared at her.

"I know that, Hanako-kun," said Daisuke. "It is my arm."

"Aren't you worried?"

"About what?" Daisuke was slightly puzzled.

"Sharks come after blood!"

Daisuke and Hikaru stared for a while. Finally, Naruto spoke.

"Um…Hanako?" The girl turned to face her sensei, smiling brightly.

"Yes, Naruto-sensei?"

Naruto was frowning slightly.

"You do know that this is a freshwater stream, don't you?"

Hanako nodded.

"Of course I do, I've been swimming in it all day!"

"Well…sharks are saltwater fish." Hanako continued staring, not catching Naruto's drift. "There are no sharks in this river."

"Oh…"

There was another long moment of uncomfortable silence, as everyone stared at Hanako. Finally, Daisuke cleared his throat.

"Well, the bleeding is stopping anyway. Let's get back to work."

Glad to have the spotlight taken off of her, Hanako dived back into the water. Within a few moments, the team had gone back to work, with Daisuke and Hanako chatting, and Hikaru mostly observing.

Naruto had watched the entire exchange, and what he saw pleased him. Daisuke had known full well that Hanako was uncomfortable with everyone staring at her, and had acted to help spare his teammate embarrassment. That showed good teamwork.

_It looks like my team is bonding well_, thought Naruto. _I wonder how Shikamaru's is doing…_

OoOoOoOoOoO

Haruka bent over, and picked up a small piece of a newspaper, and put it inside her trash bag. The alley was beginning to look cleaner, but it was obvious that they still had a ways to go.

When Haruka stood up straight, she turned to look at her two teammates. The trio had been working for almost twenty minutes, but not a word had been said. Obviously, there was tension over something.

Haruka suspected that the boys felt awkward over their battle yesterday. She did not understand these feelings, but from her brother's stories of schools, she had deduced that many males had quite large egos. She had never seen evidence of such an ego in her brother, but he was, after all, an Aburame.

Haruka supposed that someone should do something to resolve the tension. The team really would not be very efficient if none of them talked to each other.

_Then again,_ she thought,_ I have never been very good at relating to my peers. I suppose I shall wait for Goren or Kiyo to make the first move_.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Goren wiped a bit of sweat off of his brow. The trash cleaning was not causing him to sweat, as it was far easier than the majority of his ninja training. The sun, however, had begun to burn brightly, and the temperature was rapidly rising.

Goren began to find himself becoming ill-tempered as time wore on. He didn't mind working when he knew that he was accomplishing something, but Shikamaru-sensei had come right out and said that this task had no purpose!

As he dumped his full bag of trash into a nearby trashcan, Goren let out a sigh. He had become slightly tired of the silence that gripped the group.

Of course, from Haruka he hadn't expected a lot of noise. She was an Aburame; if she had talked, it would have actually been a bit scary. Kiyo, however, was another story.

In class, Kiyo had not been outspoken, exactly, but he spoke occasionally as well. Goren had never really thought of him as being that different from the other children in the class. The fight yesterday had changed all of that.

Kiyo hadn't acted like a normal boy. He had been far too serious, far too determined. Above all, he had been far too strong. He was a completely different person from what Goren had expected.

Goren had never considered himself to be weak, despite his nerdy exterior. However, Kiyo had defeated him easily, and it rankled. Goren had no idea why Kiyo was refusing to speak, but he knew full well why Goren refused to.

He was being a sore loser.

As he realized this, Goren stopped working, and looked at Kiyo. Haruka and Kiyo continued working for a few moments, before they realized that he had stopped. Slowly, they stopped as well, and turned to face him. When Goren spoke, it was directed towards Kiyo. He knew that Haruka wasn't the problem.

"You beat me yesterday."

Kiyo blinked.

"Um…yeah. I did. You just noticed?"

Goren ignored the sarcastic remark, and continued speaking. From the corner of his eye, he saw Haruka nod in what seemed to be an approving gesture.

"I think that I've been holding that against you."

Kiyo kept looking at Goren.

"Are you going to say anything important?" Kiyo began to look slightly annoyed. "If not, then I'm going to go back to cleaning. I want to get this stupid mission over as soon as possible."

The next time Goren spoke, it was slightly louder.

"You are my teammate." Kiyo's smirk faded away. Goren seemed much more serious now, something inside of Kiyo prevented him from ridiculing him. "You beat me, but I can accept that. We are going to be trusting our lives to each other, and we need to work well together."

"You do realize, you almost exactly quoted Shikamaru-sensei." Kiyo's remark was sarcastic, but there was no bite to it. He was chewing on his lip thoughtfully. Goren once again ignored the semi-insult, and walked towards Kiyo. To Kiyo's surprise, he extended his hand.

"I don't want any of my comrades to die," said the nerd. "I want to be your teammate, and maybe one day, your nakama. I don't want there to be tensions between us."

Kiyo was frozen, staring down at Goren's hand.

_Nakama...I had nakama. They're gone now._

Kiyo shook slightly, as he remembered his friends, and his family. All gone…he missed the feeling of having loved ones. But if he had loved ones…he could lose them again.

After a long moment, Kiyo came to his decision. He reached forward, and shook Goren's hand.

"Comrades, then." Kiyo let out a small grin. "Nakama, maybe."

Goren smiled too.

"That will do, for now."

Off to the side, Haruka let out a slight noise that may have been a chuckle. Kiyo and Goren both glanced at her, having forgotten she was there during their little conversation.

"Boys…" Haruka chuckled again, and picked up a piece of trash. Kiyo let out a slightly wicked grin.

"Oh you don't think that we'd leave you out, do you?"

Haruka stiffened in surprise.

"What do you…"

Before she could complete her sentence, Kiyo ran over to her and hugged her. Goren sweat-dropped.

"Kiyo, what are you doing to Haruka-san?"

"Well, she is our comrade, and potential nakama, isn't she? I'm sealing the deal, only with a hug instead of a handshake." Kiyo made a mock frown. "It's different for girls than guys. Unless you wanted me to hug you…"

Goren let out an exasperated sigh, and Haruka looked extremely uncomfortable. Before he could say anything, however, he heard a slight chuckling noise come from behind him. He turned, and saw a laughing Shikamaru.

Kiyo and Haruka saw him, too, and adruptly realized the position they were in, with Kiyo hugging her. Hastily, Kiyo released Haruka. He cleared his throat, and straightened his shirt, attempting to look innocent. It didn't help that Shikamaru wouldn't stop laughing.

"I see that whatever hostility issues you three had have been…settled." Shikamaru began grinning wickedly. "I must tell you though, try not to become _too_ friendly. Nothing can drive a team apart faster than a love triangle."

Kiyo and Goren began choking, and Haruka let out a slightly offended gasp.

"Shikamaru-sensei!" Her emotionless mask had slipped slightly, and a hint of her anger shone through. "I wouldn't…" She saw, however, that he was laughing, and bit off her retort. Once his laughing had subsided, Shikamaru took a look around the street.

"Well, this looks fairly clean." He turned back to face his team, and smiled. This time, however, it was a warm smile, instead of a slightly mocking one. "Congratulations. You just completed your first mission."

Goren and Kiyo both let out a small cheer, while Haruka merely stood, still fuming slightly over the "love triangle" remark. Shikamaru laughed as he saw them, remembering his, Ino, and Chouji's first mission. It had been a D rank, fairly similar to this one.

"Hey," he said to the trio. "I have to fill out the paperwork for the mission. You three should go out to eat together, it will be a bonding exercise. I actually know a good place…"

OoOoOoOoOoO

Daisuke, Hikaru, and Hanako sat on the bank of the river, next to their catch of fish. Naruto had to admit, it was a decently sized pile. The fisherman would be happy. Turning away from the pile of fish, he looked at his genin.

The three were laughing, and talking. Even Hikaru had opened up as the day went on. Naruto knew that Shikamaru was having trouble with his team working together, but the opposite was true here. Naruto grinned slightly.

_This is perfect…when I'm through with them, they'd do anything for each other!_ Naruto sobered slightly as he followed that thought to its inevitable conclusion. _They'd die for each other…_

Forcing himself away from such somber thoughts, Naruto walked over to his genin.

"Hey, you three! Nice work with the fish! Daisuke, don't worry, your arm should be fine." Naruto laughed at the look on Daisuke's face at the word _should_. "I am going to file the paperwork for our first mission! You guys should go have a celebration dinner. I know! You can go eat at Ichiraku's!"

Hanako and Hikaru looked slightly puzzled, but Daisuke lit up.

"I know where that is! Let's go, guys!"

Daisuke ran off, and Hikaru and Hanako jumped up to follow him. Naruto watched as they receded into the distance. Once they were out of sight, he began thinking.

Naruto had paid particular attention to Daisuke over the course of the day. He had not forgotten his instincts concerning the boy. However, his observations weren't rewarded. Daisuke had acted like an ordinary kid, maybe even a bit of a goofball.

_Was I wrong? Was yesterday just a fluke?_ Naruto was slightly confused. He decided to work on his paperwork in a small café, only across the street from Ichiraku's.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Shikamaru took a small sip of his tea, and grinned. Sometimes, it was incredibly difficult to not become smug over his intellect, particularly when he was watching a plan come together. This smugness was only confirmed when he saw a bright orange jumpsuit rounding the corner of the street.

Naruto got a drink at the counter, and was about to sit when he spotted Shikamaru. He walked over, and grinned as he spoke.

"Oi, Shikamaru-kun! What a coi-" Shikamaru cut him off quickly.

"Quiet, baka! They'll hear you!"

Naruto sat, confused.

"They? Who do you mean?"

Shikamaru grinned.

"I'm pretty sure that I am correct in assuming you sent your team to eat here. Well, I thought it would be a good thing for both of our teams if we were to induce a little…friendly rivalry."

Seeing that he was being too subtle for Naruto, Shikamaru sighed and elaborated.

"I sent my team to the same restaurant. The two will meet, and if I am right about their personalities, they will probably clash."

Naruto gaped at Shikamaru, incredulous.

"You did this without telling me? How could you?"

Before Shikamaru could reply, Naruto froze. Over Shikamaru's shoulder, he saw his team approaching. From the corner of his eye, he also saw Shikamaru's team.

Naruto groaned, and sank into his chair.

_Kami-sama knows how this will end_, thought Naruto as he wished he had a huge bowl of ramen to steady his nerves.

**Yep! Longest chapter yet! Read and review!**


	10. The Teams Collide

**A/N: Hm…judging from my reviews, I'm guessing that you guys are looking forward to seeing the "friendly rivalry." I'll admit, it's hard to make people like Haruka emotional enough for a good rivalry, but I will try.**

**PS: If anyone, in a private message to me, can guess Daisuke's secret, then I will send them my next chapter a few days before I post it. But, if you are right, no telling!**

**PPS: This is actually more of a note-to-self. It is very difficult to write Naruto fanfiction while watching One Piece. Curse you, multitasking!**

Daisuke, Hikaru, and Hanako were walking down the street, still chatting about the day's mission. Abruptly, Daisuke stopped.

"Look!"

Hikaru and Hanako looked where Daisuke was pointing. Up ahead of them, Haruka, Goren, and Kiyo were sitting at the bar of Ichiraku Ramen. Hanako let out a small gasp of surprise and pleasure.

"Haruka-chan! And Goren-kun, and Kiyo-kun! Let's say hi!"

Just as she began to run towards them, Daisuke grabbed the neck of Hanako's jacket, and stopped her, with only a little bit of choking in the process. Hikaru stared at the two.

"What are you doing, Daisuke-san?"

Daisuke grinned, and before Hikaru or Hanako could do anything, he dragged them both into a nearby alley. When he released the two, they stared at him angrily.

"Guys, I have an idea." Daisuke leaned in close to the two. "Those three are our allies, and may one day fight beside us in battle. Don't you think it is our duty to test their ninja abilities?"

Hikaru began to frown.

"I suppose…"

"Well, one of the most important ninja abilities is the ability to be aware of your surroundings."

"Your point?"

"I propose a test of our Team Nine comrades' abilities, by sneaking and placing an extremely small explosive tag in their bowls."

Hikaru stared for a moment. So did Hanako. There was utter silence as they comprehended Daisuke's plan.

"Well…" For a moment, Hanako twiddled her fingers, looking almost exactly like Hinata. "I'm not sure that Haruka-chan would appreciate your sense of humor…but it is worth a try!" She looked up with a smile. "Let's do it!"

The two conspirators turned to look at Hikaru. Hikaru looked at his feet for a long moment, then looked up.

"Well," he said with a smile, "I suppose that this could be a test of my stealth abilities. And it would be a dreadful neglect of our responsibilities as Konoha shinobi if we didn't make sure our allies were combat ready…"

With a grin, Daisuke gave each of his teammates a high-five.

"Yosh! Follow me!"

* * *

**A/N: Hehehe...I figured out section breaks!**

Goren, Kiyo, and Haruka sat one their respective stools as they waited for their ramen, with Haruka in the middle. The silence between the three had, thankfully, been broken. However, their group was still not, and most likely never would be, what most would consider 'talkative.'

Goren turned to his left to look at Kiyo and Haruka.

"What did you think of the mission today?"

They both looked at him, and thought for a moment. Haruka responded first.

"I do not believe that such a task was an adequate test of our abilities." Kiyo nodded.

"So," said Kiyo, "You think it was really easy?" Haruka cast him a glare.

"It could be worded that way, I suppose."

"Well, it would be easier to understand you if you worded it that way," said Kiyo. Fortunately, (or so they thought) the ramen arrived before an argument could break out. Of course, it couldn't really be called an argument when Haruka barely spoke, it was more of a one sided shouting match.

The three prepared to dig in when a relatively small explosion erupted. Ramen flew into the trio's faces.

* * *

Kiyo flinched as he saw the extremely small explosion in his bowl. It was not very large, it wasn't even powerful enough to damage the bowl it was in. However, seeing small burst of flame and smoke brought him back, back to the day in his life in which all too much smoke had been present, smoke that still clouded over him. 

_Flashback_

_Kiyo sat in the tree, thankful that the summer weather was not as excruciatingly hot as it had been in the past month. He noticed a small mosquito that landed on his arm, and absentmindedly flicked it off of his hand. Even the wonderful month of summer brought its own set of nuisances._

_After another few minutes of doing nothing, Kiyo glanced at his watch. It was approaching noon, and he had just noticed the rumblings of his stomach. It was time to head back to the village._

_With a slight grunt, Kiyo dropped down from the tree. With his hands in his pockets, he began whistling as he walked out of the woods and onto the pathway that led through the countryside into his village, and then into the larger neighboring villages. He knew that he was only a few minutes away, and took his time._

_Because Kiyo was looking at the ground, he did not see the plume of smoke present in the sky._

_When Kiyo rounded the last hill in the road before the village was in sight, he at last looked up, and froze. Almost every building he could see was on fire, and many were completely razed to the ground. The sounds of his normally busy village were gone, replaced by a deathly silence._

_Horrorstruck, Kiyo sprinted with all his might towards the devastation that was his home. His faint hopes that everyone had run away were crushed when he saw the first body. He vaguely recognized the face of Ota, the nice old woman who was in charge of the bakery. It was hard to tell of course, with so much blood..._

_Kiyo did not stop to look at anyone, but he saw them just the same. The postman, the old fisherman, his teacher...oh God, his teacher, his friends...he saw them all. As he ran, he thanked the heavens for the tears that blurred his vision, that spared him from seeing the nightmare that lay before him._

_He kept on running, until his target could be seen through his tears. His home, the house of his father, the leader of their village._

_The other abodes he had seen on the way here had been on fire. Some of them have even possessed enormous holes in their walls, or massive structural damage. His house, however, had been eradicated._

_Signs of a massive struggle were everywhere. Scorch marks were present on the ground, and deep slashes in the earth could be seen. Small pieces of wood and shingles were all that suggested a house had ever been present. Kiyo began to feel a small hope, and tiny warmth in the face of the evil he had seen. It died when he saw the bodies._

_The mangled remains of his parents had been placed in the center of where their house had been. With a cry, Kiyo ran over to them, tears flowing freely. He embraced his father and mother, knowing but refusing to believe that their demise was true. After a long time, only minutes before the runners who had been dispatched from Konoha to investigate the smoke arrived, Kiyo stood up. He had seen something on the ground, something shining with the reflected light of the fire._

_Kiyo walked over and picked up the object. He recognized it, and the emblem it bore. His rage finally having a target, the young boy let out a roar of fury that shook his throat, until he could speak no longer. As he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion and shock, he looked down at his hand, and the symbol inside it..._

_End Flashback_

Daisuke popped up from behind the counter, followed by Hikaru and Hanako. He bore a wide grin on his face, and was valiantly attempting not to break down in laughter. Hanako was smiling, and even Hikaru had begun to chuckle a bit. Their happy feelings were not, however, mirrored by their Team Nine comrades.

Haruka silently wiped the soup off of her sunglasses, managing to do so without removing them. Goren grimaced and did the same with his glasses. He looked mildly annoyed. Hanako, upon seeing Haruka, seemed to finally realize that Haruka might not have found the joke funny.

"Haruka-chan! You aren't mad, are you!" She ran over, and was about to embrace the Aburame girl. Haruka held out a hand to stop her.

"No...I'm fine." Haruka's voice was curt, and to the point. Of course, it always was, but she seemed to be a little more hostile than normal. Goren didn't bother hiding his emotions.

"Oh, that's really mature, you three," said Goren. Daisuke's grin only widened.

"Come on, don't be so stiff," said Daisuke. "You didn't notice us sneaking up, so you really should-" Daisuke broke off. He had taken a look at the expression on Kiyo's face.

The tan boy had turned as pale as a sheet. His hands were not shaking, but they were gripping the counter with a violently tight grip. His face was emotionless, but in a different manner than Haruka's was. Her mask was calm, and collected, a carefully fabricated illusion. Kiyo's face bore no signs of feelings, but beneath you could sense a cold, dark anger.

Goren and Haruka followed Daisuke's gaze, and saw their teammate. Haruka's head perked up slightly, while Goren leaned closer to his friend.

"Kiyo-kun? Are you all right?"

* * *

Shikamaru sipped his drink, looking at the students from across the seat. Naruto sat next to him, uncharacteristically quiet. Even he was observant enough to know that something had happened with Kiyo. 

"Shikamaru," said Naruto, "What do you know about that student of yours?"

"Not a whole lot. He is probably the strongest on my team, and-" Shikamaru glanced at Naruto, "-and in some ways, he reminds me of Sasuke." Naruto stiffened slightly, and turned to look at Shikamaru.

"He does?"

Shikamaru sighed quietly, knowing that Naruto would want to hear all about his limited experiences with Kiyo.

* * *

Kiyo was silent for a moment. However, when he spoke, it was not to Goren. It was to Daisuke. 

"I suppose you think that's hilarious, do you?" The anger in his voice was quite apparent. Hikaru stopped chuckling at the antics of Hanako and looked at Kiyo, slightly surprised. After a moment, Hanako was looking too. Daisuke frowned slightly.

"Look, if you didn't like it, I'm sorry. It was just a joke, we'll buy you guys new bowls."

"You think this is about losing our soup?" Kiyo retorted, his voice getting slightly louder. Daisuke became even more concerned. This had been a simple prank, but something about it had seemed to strike a negative chord inside of Kiyo.

"I don't know what you are so upset about, but-"

"Upset? I'm upset about the fact that you three morons sabotaged my meal, and could have hurt my teammates! One miscalculation with those notes and we could have been injured!" Kiyo knew that this wasn't why he was mad. He had just been forced to relive the most painful experience of his life, and it was all this baka's fault!

Daisuke's face hardened at Kiyo's argument. His voice rose slightly, as well.

"Don't call my teammates morons, we were very careful!"

"Oh, that would have been fine consolation if we ended up blinded by shrapnel from those bowls!"

"What's the matter with you? Did you see how small those notes were? We couldn't have hurt you with those if we tried!"

Kiyo got up from his seat, and leaned in towards Daisuke. At this, the other genin seemed to break out of the trance that they had been in. None of them knew why this had turned into such an issue, but the matter had escalated too far.

Hikaru walked over to Daisuke, and placed a hand on his shoulder, while Hanako stood behind them, hopping nervously.

"Listen, Kiyo-san," he said, "I'm sorry about the joke. It probably wasn't in the best of taste-"

"Indeed it wasn't." The quiet remark from Haruka was just loud enough to be noticed. Hikaru faltered for a moment, then continued.

"Anyways, we wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt you guys. You are our allies, after all." Kiyo glared at Hikaru.

"Don't butt in. Allies? Don't joke with me, we don't even know each other. Would you die for someone you don't know? That's what allies do for each other. Don't kid yourself, you couldn't handle that sort of responsibility."

Daisuke's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Hey! He is trying to be helpful! Don't laugh at my teammate. For your information, we _would_ die for a comrade. All three of us."

Kiyo laughed at the statement, infuriating Daisuke farther. However, he was not laughing internally. _What am I doing,_ he thought. _Is my self control so weak, that a simple memory makes me start itching for a conflict?_ These doubts, however, were not enough to keep him from continuing.

"You three annoy me. Claiming to be shinobi, claiming to be our _allies_, but you don't even know what that means. You haven't been in a real fight for your lives. It's perfectly fine to say these things while you are nice and safe in the village, but there isn't any meaning behind it!"

Goren, who was standing behind Kiyo, was frowning.

"Kiyo-kun, what are you doing? Let's just go eat somewhere else..." Haruka nodded her agreement.

"Indeed, Kiyo-san," she said. "It would be foolish to allow this argument to escalate farther." Kiyo ignored them both.

"You three are nothing but pretenders, children with headbands." This was the last straw for Daisuke.

"_Shut up!_ You sit here and talk as though you were some adult who is far above us 'lowly' children, but you aren't! You aren't above us at all! You continue to insult my friends, and _I will not stand for it!_" Daisuke jumped over the counter, and he was face to face with Kiyo.

Hanako squealed in alarm.

"Please! Don't fight!" She didn't want to see anyone get hurt, particularly not her teammates. She darted forward, hoping to pull Daisuke away, but a hand on each of her shoulders stopped her. She looked to her sides, in surprise.

Hikaru and Goren each had a hand on one of the shoulders, holding her back. They looked at each other in slight surprise, then nodded in recognition.

"You should stay out of this, Hanako-san," said Goren, looking at the two arguing boys.

"Yes," said Hikaru, "This is between them." Haruka snorted.

"You intend to let these two begin a brawl, then?" Goren looked at her.

"If our two teams are ever to work together, which may someday be a matter of life or death, we need to have whatever issues these are resolved. If we went into a mission with something like this between us, it could prove fatal." Haruka stared for a moment, then snorted in derision again. However, she did not move to stop the two.

Kiyo had begun yelling, as had Daisuke.

"I can say what I want about your team, Daisuke!" There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Kiyo had intentionally left out an honorific, intending it to be an insult.

"No, you cannot!"

"Well, you can't stop me!"

Daisuke began to glower, and stepped away from Kiyo.

"Yes, I can." Kiyo began to grin slightly.

"You want to fight, then?" Daisuke nodded, grimly.

"You've insulted my teammates," he said, "You have questioned our abilities as shinobi and as your allies. I'm not going to take this from you."

Kiyo nodded.

"Very well."

* * *

"What are they doing?" 

Naruto's words attracted Shikamaru's attention. He had begun to doze, as he hadn't had nearly as many opportunities to slack off today as he normally did. He sat up straighter in his chair, and focused on the genin across the street.

"Oh hell...they're going to start a fight."

* * *

The two boys each drew a kunai knife and stepped into the street. By now, the few pedestrians who were out this late had cleared away. Kiyo and Daisuke walked until they were about ten feet apart, then faced each other. Without speaking, they charged, kunai ready to clash... 

**A/N: Hehehe...cliffy!**

**Thank God this chapter is over...it was not fun to write. Hopefully it will be fun to read, though. Sorry about the delay with posting, I don't really have a good excuse. I am going to try to get ahead of myself this week.**

**Remember, if you don't tell me what you don't like, I can't fix it. Read and review!**


	11. A Duel Deterred

**A/N: Wow, the last chapter got about as much response in its first twenty four hours as most of my other chapters got in a few days. Hooray for growing fanbases! Unfortunately, no one has guessed Daisuke's secret yet. Ah, well…**

Naruto stood up, his drink forgotten behind him.

"Shikamaru, we have to stop them," he said, turning to the lazy shinobi behind him. "If they start a fight, they could get hurt, and they will definitely get in trouble." Shikamaru sighed.

"Do we really have to? I just sat down." Naruto glared at him. "All right, fine…" As Shikamaru stood, grumbling, he paused. He looked down the street, and chuckled.

"Actually, Naruto, I don't think we'll need to do anything." Naruto frowned, puzzled at this statement.

"What do you mean, we won't have to do anything?" He followed Shikamaru's gaze, and saw who was approaching. Then, he groaned.

"Great…him…"

OoOo

A clash rang out as blades met each other in the center of the street. However, it was not one pair of blades that met, but two.

Where before only Daisuke and Kiyo had stood, two boys had appeared. One of them wore black boots, and long green pants. He had a white t-shirt, and yellow hair. One of his more noticeable features, however, was the sheath that he wore on his back. Currently, the katana that presumably belonged in that sheath was in his right hand, blocking Daisuke's kunai.

The other boy was wearing a gray mesh shirt, and had very long, black spiky hair going down his back. He wore long khaki pants, and ninja sandals. He was holding a blade, but it did not appear to be a kunai. It was attached to a metal ring, with several other blades sticking out from it. He held the blade by this ring, and was currently using it to block Kiyo's kunai. The ring had a chain attached to it that led to a chain wrapped around his body several times like a sash.

Hikaru, Goren, Hanako, and Haruka all tensed, but they did not attack. They did not recognize these boys, who seemed to be their age, but they were both wearing Leaf headbands. Suddenly, a stern voice came from further up the street.

"You two! Is this any way for shinobi to behave, fighting in the street?" The six genin turned, and saw a man walking towards them with a young girl next to him. The man had very long, straight brown hair, and a headband on his forehead. He wore a tan vest, and had bandages around his legs. He had pale, gray eyes. He was Hyuuga Neji.

All of the genin, with the exception of one, stiffened. They recognized Neji, and knew that he was one of the Konoha Eleven. If what they had heard about him was correct, he would not be pleased to see that they had been fighting. They stood, hoping that he wouldn't want to punish them.

All of the genin, except one.

"Neji-nii-san!" Neji's eyes widened slightly as he saw Haruka flying towards him. He only had a moment to mouth a word of protest before she was hugging him.

"Hanako-sama…" It was too late. She was clinging to him, babbling excitedly.

"I haven't seen you in so long, nii-san! I'm on a team with Naruto-sensei, and I have a headband, and-"

The girl next to Neji stepped forward. She had brown hair, and had it curled up in buns. She wore a pink, sleeveless vest, and darkly colored pants. The only weapons she visibly carried were the ordinary supply of kunai and shuriken.

"Neji-sensei, do you need help getting her off?" Neji grimaced, and shook his head.

"It's fine, Kari." Neji looked down at Hanako, and gently pulled her off of him. "Hanako-sama, this is not becoming of a member of the Main Branch. Already you risk your reputation, being with these two who seem so determined to start a fight." He glared quickly at Kiyo and Daisuke, no small thing with the Byakugan. "Excellent job, Ryuichi, Taku." The two boys who were holding back Kiyo and Daisuke's kunai lowered their weapons, although keeping them in their hands. The blond with the sword scratched the top of his head.

"It wasn't really that hard, Neji-sensei. These two were too focused on each other to even see us coming." The spiky haired boy with the chain weapon gave a cocky, sarcastic grin.

"Oh, come now, Ryuichi-kun." He spoke in a lilting fashion, dripping with sarcasm. "Don't make fun of them for their shortcomings that could get them killed in a real battle…they're just children…" The boy with the sword, Ryuichi, gave a mock frown.

"But wait, Taku-kun. Aren't they in the same year as us?" Taku paused for a moment.

"Why yes, they are! I guess there is no excuse, then…"

Daisuke put his kunai back in his sheath angrily.

"And who exactly are you? I didn't see you in our class, how can you be from our year?!" Kiyo also sheathed his kunai, although he was not as flamboyant in his anger as Daisuke. His eyes, however, were glowering.

Taku sighed dramatically, then looked at Daisuke.

"You didn't think that Iruka was the only teacher in the Academy, did you?" Goren made the connection.

"You were in a different class, but in our grade?" Taku looked to see who had spoken, then nodded.

"Yes! At least you guys aren't all bakas…you seem to be bright. If only you had been bright enough to keep your friends from making a scene in the middle of a street."

Kiyo glared at Neji.

"Why did you tell your students to interfere? Daisuke and I need to settle this!" Neji scoffed.

"Really? I was listening to a great deal of your argument. It seemed quite pointless to me. I do have to wonder, however…why did your senseis not stop this fight from happening?"

Hikaru stared at Neji, puzzled.

"Um…probably because they aren't here?" Neji looked at the boy.

"Indeed? You were not aware that they are sitting in that café across the street?"

Shikamaru and Naruto stiffened as the entire group gathered on the street turned to look at them. They had been caught.

"It occurs to me," muttered Naruto, "That this may not have been the best plan you've ever made, Shikamaru."

"Shut up."

The two walked over to Neji and the genin. All of the genin appeared surprised, although some to a greater extent than others. Goren's jaw had dropped, while Kiyo and Hikaru were merely a little wide eyed. Daisuke was glaring at the two.

"You've been there this whole time," said Goren, flabbergasted, "And you didn't say anything!" Kiyo looked at Neji.

"Well, at least they were respectful enough not to interrupt our fight!"

Shikamaru coughed, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Actually, Kiyo," he said, "We were about to stop you guys. We would have, if Neji hadn't shown up when he did." Daisuke growled in annoyance, and Kiyo glared at all three jounin.

"Why can't you just butt out of our affairs? Daisuke and I have an argument, and we want to settle it!" Shikamaru sighed impatiently.

"Kiyo, I honestly can't tell what you were fighting about, and I heard the whole thing. It seemed like you were just venting your anger. Now isn't the time to be fighting with your allies." Kiyo glared daggers at Shikamaru, who did not particularly care. He had received many worse from Temari. Instead, he turned his attention to Neji.

"So, you've got a team too, huh?" Shikamaru looked at Kari. "She looks a lot like Tenten. Are they related?" Neji winced at the statement, and Shikamaru found out why in a moment. At the sound of Tenten's name, Kari went from a somber looking girl to a beaming, hopping bunny of a girl.

"No, she is not," said Neji. "Tenten is her role model, however. Kari uses Tenten's fighting style, the same type of equipment…she even does her hair the same way. It disturbs Tenten slightly when she comes to see them." Naruto laughed.

"Yeah, I bet it does! Now she knows how Gai must have felt when Lee started dressing like him." Neji stiffened at this remark.

"You just reminded me, Naruto. Byakugan!" Neji activated his eyes, and looked around. Adruptly, he stopped.

"Team Six, Code Green!" All three of the children's heads perked up. Ryuichi looked towards Daisuke and Kiyo.

"I guess we'll see you guys later, then. Try not to kill each other before that happens, please." Before any of Shikamaru or Naruto's genin could respond, the three members of Neji's team, Team Six, jumped onto the rooftops and sped away. Naruto turned towards Shikamaru in confusion.

"Code Green? What is-"

Naruto was interrupted when a man in a green jumpsuit, wearing an Anbu mask suddenly jumped into their midst. Shikamaru sighed.

"Hello, Lee." The figure stiffened, and turned to face Shikamaru.

"You are not supposed to recognize me, Shikamaru-kun! I am wearing this mask to conceal my identity." Everyone sweat dropped.

"Lee," began Shikamaru, "You are the only person in Anbu-no, the whole village, besides Gai, who wears an outfit like that."

Lee looked down at his green jumpsuit.

"Ah. Very clever, Shikamaru-kun. Anyways, I came here because I received a report of a disturbance. Two ninjas fighting, or something similar." He looked around at the group eagerly. "Do you know where these two ninja are?" Hanako, who had been sulking slightly since Neji left, jumped up excitedly.

"Ooh! I kn—umph!" Naruto, showing a rather uncharacteristic presence of mind, had clamped a hand over her mouth.

"No, haven't seen any ninjas fighting here!" Naruto's smile was a little too wide, but Lee did not notice. "Probably just some overexcited pedestrian!"

Lee nodded to himself.

"That is indeed possible, Naruto-kun. By the way, have any of you seen my eternal rival, Neji-san? I have been meaning to challenge him to a contest of strength, but I can never seem to find him!" Shikamaru nodded with a straight face, while Goren, Hikaru, Daisuke, and Hanako could barely suppress their giggles.

"That is quite odd," said Shikamaru. "No, we haven't seen him."

Lee sighed, and then caught sight of the six students. He perked up instantly.

"Ah! You two are senseis now, correct?" The two nodded. "Yosh! Remember, the youth of these students is in your hands. Make sure that they blossom with power!" With those nonsensical words, Lee sprang away, leaving the genin stunned, and Shikamaru and Naruto laughing very hard.

Goren looked the way that Lee had run off.

"That…was one of the Konoha Eleven?" Hikaru nodded dumbly.

"It appears that not all legends behave in a becoming manner," stated Haruka calmly. She was not too shaken up, although she had been slightly surprised by Lee's behavior. Daisuke was staring after the Green Beast, confused. Hanako was still suppressing her giggles. Kiyo, however, had a different reaction.

He had barely been paying attention to Lee. He could feel the anger in his body simmering. However, he was not angry at Daisuke anymore, not really. He was angry with himself.

He had not really been angry with Daisuke in the first place. The rage that he had carried around with him for the past several years had been brought to the surface by the prank Daisuke had pulled, and he had found a person to redirect it at. He knew that he had been rude and insulting towards Daisuke and his teammates, but he didn't really feel like talking to anyone now. Much less making an apology. He turned away from the group, and began walking away. Without turning around, he spoke.

"Our fight was interrupted, Daisuke. Be sure to train as much as you can, or I'll wipe the floor with you once we have a rematch." Daisuke stared for a moment. The remark had not been as venomous as the other things Kiyo had said. Was it possible that Kiyo was cooling down some, even becoming playful?

"Sure," said Daisuke. "You train too. I don't want your teammates to cry when I beat you." Kiyo scoffed, and walked towards his small apartment that had been provided for him by the Hokage.

Shikamaru sighed, and put his hands in his pockets. He turned and faced all of the remaining genin.

"Well, I guess you guys should go home, or something." The genin began to disperse, all heading for their respective houses. Shikamaru began walking down an alley, and Naruto followed him.

"Well," said Naruto, "I suppose that our teams' first meeting could have gone better." Shikamaru turned to face Naruto, and Naruto was surprised to see a wide smile.

"This is actually pretty good," said Shikamaru. "Now they have a nice strong rivalry to motivate themselves with. Of course, it didn't come about in the way I thought it might, but it works." Naruto shook his head.

"Stop pretending this was part of your plan, Shikamaru. We both know that was completely random." Before Shikamaru could respond, Naruto jumped away. Shikamaru sighed, and looked down the street he was on. He had business to take care of before he went home.

OoOo

Kiyo stared at the ground as he walked. It was not because he felt depressed, or anything of the sort, but because he tended to walk faster with nothing to distract him, such as scenery. Because of this, he did not see Shikamaru leaning against the building until he was only a few feet away.

"Oh! Um, hello, Shikamaru-sensei." Shikamaru's arms were folded in front of him, and his face was serious.

"Kiyo, what were you doing back there?" Kiyo stiffened at the question.

"I was just…angry, and I started picking a fight. I don't really know why."

Shikamaru began frowning more deeply.

"It didn't really feel that way, Kiyo. I know less about you than any of the other genin on my team. What is your story?" Kiyo laughed, although he did not sound particularly amused.

"Well, Shikamaru-sensei, if what I've heard about the other teams is correct, the time to ask us that would have been on our first day, along with our likes, dislikes, and dreams for the future…" Kiyo began to walk away. Shikamaru was angry with the disrespectful answer, but did not go after him. He would find out eventually. Besides, if it was important, Tsunade would have told him…probably.

OoOoOoO

Naruto was walking along the street when he thought he heard a noise. He looked around, but saw no living thing on the street with him. He kept walking, when he heard the noise again. He had just begun to look around when the lid of the dumpster next to him popped open. Out of it jumped Neji.

The laughter nearly burst out of Naruto when he saw that Neji had a banana peel on his shoulder, but he managed to suppress it. Neji looked around once with his Byakugan, and apparently saw nothing.

"Thank you Naruto, for not informing Lee of my location. He has been hounding me with his annoying requests for duels." Naruto nodded sagely.

"Yes. It seems like he would have matured since entering Anbu, but apparently not. It can be annoying, being in a one sided rivalry." Naruto would probably never know the irony of his statement. Neji adjusted his jounin vest, then looked at Naruto.

"Your genin look as though they may be strong. Are you considering entering them in the Chuunin Exams?" Naruto tilted his head quizzically.

"I hadn't really thought about it. It's in a few months. I'm not sure if they'll be ready." Neji nodded.

"A wise choice. I intend on entering my genin, but they appear to be exceptionally strong." Naruto had to actively resist the urge to rise to that implied challenge, and just barely managed to do so successfully.

"Well, I still have a fair amount of time to decide. Entering them may not be a smart thing to do." Neji nodded once again.

"Speaking of things that aren't smart to do, Naruto, there is something I have been meaning to talk to you about."

"What?"

"The fact that you have been dating Hinata-sama." Naruto began coughing, and nearly choked. That was supposed to be a secret! Neji smiled at his orange suited colleague. "Do not worry. I do not believe anyone but myself has noticed. However, you should be more discreet when sneaking into the compound. It would not do if Hiashi-sama were to learn of your relationship. Particularly given your…guest." Naruto nodded grimly. He did not doubt that Hiashi would forbid his daughter from having any relationship with the 'demon.'

"I know, Neji. Thanks." Neji turned and began to walk away, then paused.

"Naruto?"

"Yes, Neji?"

"I almost forgot. If you are not a gentleman when courting Hinata-sama, I will be duty bound to find you and break your legs. It is the duty of the Branch Family." Naruto was so stunned by this announcement that he did not see the smile that was almost a grin on Neji's face as he walked away.

A/N: You have no idea how fun that was to write…hehehe.

I got a comment last chapter about how well I am doing distinguishing the characters. Thank you. Personally, I feel that Hikaru and Goren seem too much alike, but I'm working on it.

Remember, if I don't know it's broke, I can't fix it. Review, and tell me what you don't like. In fact, I have an idea.

If you are going to review my story, do one thing first. No matter what else you say in the review, try to include at least one thing you didn't like about this chapter. It will help me improve! Yay!


	12. Training Begins: Haruka vs Taku

**A/N: Here I am, working on what will be the third chapter this week. Of course, it won't be posted the same week as chapter ten or eleven, but I wrote it during the same week...mostly. The sacrifices I make for fanfiction…lol**

**I am writing some of this as I am home sick from school. I am going to regret being sick tomorrow, when I have to catch up on my newspaper interviews, but ah well…**

**This is looking like it will be the longest chapter yet. Goodie! **

Shikamaru yawned, and rolled over in bed. He glanced lazily at his alarm clock, and saw that it was nearly 9:00 in the morning. This troubled him for a moment, though he did not know why. He did what he always did when he felt he had forgotten something. He used his razor sharp mind to trace over his steps from yesterday.

First, there had been that almost-fight between Kiyo and that boy on Naruto's team. That hadn't been fun. Then, he had gone and talked to Kiyo. Also quite troublesome. Then...

Oh, right. He had found his team members and told them to show up at Training Ground Five for training the next morning. Wait...

That would be this morning. What time had he told them to show up? Was it 8:30? Probably...of course, that meant that he was late. About half an hour late. Shikamaru groaned, and made an effort to get out of bed. He decided to wait a few minutes. After all, patience was a virtue, even for shinobi...

* * *

Haruka was the first to arrive at the empty training ground. She looked around for a moment, and after a while grew impatient and took out her pocket watch. It clearly said that the time was 8:40, and she knew without a doubt that it was accurate. She set it herself every evening. It appeared that everyone else was late. 

_I suppose it was too much to hope for,_ thought Haruka as she leaned against a tree, her hands in her pockets, _that the rest of my team might actually come when they're supposed to._ Someone with less self control might have sighed.

_You would think that at least Shikamaru-sensei would be on time, _she thought, _as he is the one that told us to be here._ Then again, Haruka was still not very sure what she thought of her new sensei. He had not neglected them, so far, but neither did he seem particularly motivated to help them in their training. His first exercise for them forced him to do nothing but watch them. Still, from what she had heard from her brother, this was typical of Shikamaru.

_Flashback_

_"Shino-nii san?" The older Aburame boy looked up from his work, a study into the mating habits of a strain of kikai bugs, and looked at his younger sister._

_"Yes, Haruka?" _**A/N: Really, wish I knew the honorific for 'younger sibling'**

_She stood inside the doorway of his room. As she looked inside, she saw that it was very sparsely decorated. This was no surprise, for the entire Aburame family ran towards similar taste. When she first visited the house of a friend from school, Haruka had been amazed by the effort that must have been wasted to decorate her friend's room._

_"Nii-san, a few days ago I received my jounin sensei, and my genin squad assignment." Shino gave her his full attention._

_"Interesting. Which jounin did you receive?"_

_"Nara Shikamaru." Shino nodded thoughtfully. "I wished to ask you about him," she said. Shino cocked an eyebrow, the closest to visible emotion that he got on a regular basis._

_"Let me guess. You are concerned over his abilities as a teacher." Haruka nodded, slightly relieved that she had been spared the difficulty of voicing her doubts in Shino's comrade._

_"He does not seem to be very interested in our training," said Haruka. "During our exercise, he simply sat somewhere and watched. I remember hearing stories of how lazy he is. Do you believe this will negatively impair my training?" Shino did not say anything for a moment. When he did speak, it was obvious that he had put a great deal of thought into it._

_"Shikamaru is a lazy person. He does not exert himself unless he has a very good reason to do so, and even then he will complain about it. However, when he is properly motivated, he is a force to be reckoned with. What he lacks in raw strength, he more than compensates for with a brilliant analytical mind. These qualities might make him one of the best teachers you could have received. You may just have to give him time." Haruka nodded. She had not seen any of this 'brilliant analytical mind,' but she trusted her older brother's judgement. She turned to leave, but paused._

_"I suppose it could have been worse. I could have received Uzumaki Naruto. Forgive me for saying so, but he does seem to be a bit of a baka." To her surprise, Shino actually began chuckling. Not laughing, but a very quiet chuckle._

_"Naruto is a loudmouthed baka, that is true. However, I would rather fight Shikamaru, Hinata, and Kiba all at once than fight with him if he was angry at me." Haruka was surprised at this, for she knew all of her brother's teammates, and they were powerful. Apparently, this Whirlwind was more powerful than his orange appearance told._

_End Flashback_

* * *

A few minutes later, Goren showed up at the training ground. 

"Sorry I'm late, I-" he broke off. He looked around, first looking at Haruka, then at the empty space around her. "Are none of the others here yet?" Haruka shook her head.

"No. I am afraid that I am the only punctual person in our group." Goren began to stammer slightly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be late, but my parents-" Haruka looked up at him and cut him off.

"It is all right. I did not mean to critizice you. After all, you were closer to being on time than Kiyo-san and Shikamaru-sensei." Goren was not entirely sure how to respond. He walked over to within a few feet of Haruka, and stood with his hands in his pockets. There was an awkward pause for a moment, then Haruka spoke again.

"Goren-san...what is your opinion of Kiyo-san? Yesterday, he was behaving quite...irrationally." Goren blinked, surprised. Haruka had been so quiet during the entire incident that it had almost been like she was not there. Thinking back, however, he realized that she had been carefully observing the whole time.

"I know what you mean. Kiyo-kun seemed to be quite angry yesterday, and he didn't seem to have much of a reason for it. Oh, and you can call me Goren-kun, as we're teammates. It's fine." Haruka coughed and straightened her glasses.

"I would prefer to be more formal, Goren-san." She saw his confused look, and elaborated. "I am not accustomed to overt familiarity with my peers. I would be more comfortable with the more formal honorifics."

Goren nodded, his slight frown going away.

"Well, that's okay, I guess." Haruka nodded at his acceptance, and continued to speak.

"I was troubled by Kiyo-san's behavior. I am also mildly concerned over the actions of Shikamaru-sensei. He was observing, but did not seem to feel he needed to prevent the fight. I feel that I must question whether he is very concerned for our well-being." Goren's eyes widened in surprise.

"Haruka-kun! I don't think that Shikamaru-sensei would let us be hurt!" Haruka stared for a moment, then nodded.

"You are right, Goren-san. My apologies. I do not believe that Shikamaru-sensei would deliberately allow us to be hurt. However, it seems at times that he is not particularly motivated to be a teacher."

"Yeah. I know what you mean." Goren and Haruka turned to see Kiyo walk out from behind the tree Haruka was leaning against. They both stiffened slightly, although not noticeably.

_How long has he been standing there,_ thought Goren. _Did he hear us talking about him?_

If he had heard them, Kiyo gave no sign. He continued to walk around the tree, untill he was standing between Goren and Haruka, although slightly to the side, forming a triangle.

"I don't think you need to worry," he said. "Yesterday, after I left, Shikamaru-sensei talked to me. He tried to find out why I was acting...the way I was. I think he watches out for us more than he lets on." Goren looked at Kiyo for a moment.

"And did you tell him?" Kiyo stared at the ground for a moment. Haruka straightened up, getting off of the tree, interested in what the reply might be.

"No, I did not," said Kiyo slowly. He had thought a lot about what he was going to say, but it was still difficult. "I...apologize, for my behavior yesterday. I wasn't being very reasonable, and I nearly got you guys into trouble. I can't tell you why I got so angry, but it wasn't because of anything that Daisuke and his team did."

Goren looked at Kiyo, trying to understand what he had been told. Haruka was the first to speak.

"In that case, we are not the ones who deserve an apology." Goren caught on to Haruka's idea quickly.

"Haruka-kun has a point, Kiyo-kun. Daisuke-san, and the rest of his team were probably affected by your behavior a lot more than we were." Kiyo nodded.

"Yeah...I know. Still, I don't think that I can just walk up to them and say I'm sorry. Not after everything I said yesterday. I'm going to have to give it some time." Haruka twitched, as if she was going to speak up, but Goren spoke first.

"That is fine, Kiyo-kun. However...I want to know, why were you so angry?" Kiyo was quiet for a long time. Long enough that Goren began to feel uncomfortable.

"Kiyo-kun, if you don't want to answer, then-"

"It's all right, Goren," said Kiyo. Goren stiffened slightly at the use of his name without an honorific. He could tell that Kiyo was not doing it to insult him, but to show that he was considering Goren a close friend. Goren had been around Kiyo long enough to know that the boy was withdrawn enough to make a statement like this a very rare occurence.

"I'm sorry, Goren, and Haruka, but I can't tell you. No, let me correct myself. I _can_ tell you, but I'm not ready to. The thing that made me angry is...a sensitive subject for me. I don't really feel like talking with anyone about it right now." Goren nodded in what he hoped was a comforting manner. Haruka did not have a great deal of experience with comforting, so she said nothing.

"Well, if you feel like telling us...you can." Goren thought this sounded a bit lame, but Kiyo smiled. Then, the moment between the three seemed to end. Kiyo coughed, and straightened his shirt.

"By the way, have either of you seen Shikamaru-sensei?" The other two both shook their heads.

"No, he seems to be-" Haruka paused, and lifted her head up, as if listening to someone. "Never mind. One of the kikai I left scouting the area just smelled Shikamaru-sensei walking up the path towards us. He will be here any moment."

* * *

Shikamaru yawned as he walked towards the training ground, tilting his head back to stare at the cloudless sky. He hated days like these...a bright sun, pleasantly warm weather, a breeze to keep things from getting too hot...but no clouds anywhere. It was as though the heavens teased him with an achingly perfect day...then took away his favorite aspect. 

Well, that wasn't entirely true. A day would not be perfect unless it had clouds, _and_ he spent it with Temari. Of course, he would never say anything so corny, but he had a feeling that Temari knew how he felt. Women were funny, or troublesome, that way. He shook his thoughts away from his girlfriend, who was most likely simmering the summer away in Suna, and turned his attention to his team. He could see them only slightly ahead of him, inside the training ground.

They all looked rather cross with him. He wasn't sure why...oh, right. It was 9:24. He was a little late. These brats were spoiled. Shikamaru had a quiet chuckle inside himself as he thought of how they might have reacted if they had had Kakashi for a sensei.

"You're late, Shikamaru-sensei," said Goren, glaring. Kiyo also looked annoyed, while Haruka looked...the way she always looked. He smiled slightly, trying to divert their ire.

"Sorry about that. I overslept. However, I have a schedule in mind for us today that will work you-erm, work _us_ so hard, and lead to so much improvement that you'll easily catch up from the hour we missed." Shikamaru swore to himself as he said those words. Fake enthusiam wasn't really his thing, but at least the genin seemed to buy it. They bought it enough to stop glaring at him, at any rate.

Shikamaru walked towards the open, grassy part of the training field and frowned.

"All right, my plan is to start off with sparring. I need to get a better idea of your individual capabilities than I got from your first test. However, there are only three of you. One of you will have to spar twice, or go once against me." Before any of them could volunteer, Haruka twitched.

"Shikamaru-sensei, someone is coming. Three people." Shikamaru looked at her.

"Who would-" He did not have to complete the question. Just coming into view on the path were Ryuichi, Taku, and Kari. The genin on Neji's team. They walked until they were at the group, then stopped. Shikamaru was slightly puzzled.

"What are you three doing here?" Kari, the Tenten lookalike, spoke up.

"Neji-sensei was required to attend a Hyuuga family function. He told us that you would be able to substitute for him today." Shikamaru's frown deepened.

"He did?" Kari was beginning to look confused.

"Yes. He said you were the sort of person who always wanted more work to do, so you would be happy to take us!" Shikamaru's eye twitched. _Neji, you bastard..._ Behind him, his genin were all grinning slightly, except Haruka. She did, however, seem vaguely amused.

"All right then," said Shikamaru, gritting his teeth, "That's fine. As a matter of fact, this will give us an even number for sparring. Kari, you pair up with Goren. Ryuichi, you pair up with Kiyo. Taku, you're with Haruka." All but Goren nodded. Goren coughed slightly, and Shikamaru looked at him.

"Yes, Goren, I remember from your fight with Haruka that you don't like fighting girls. Well, too bad." He turned to look at Kari. "Kari, if he doesn't fight you, please beat some feminism into him." Kari smiled impishly, and turned to face Goren.

"I will, Shikamaru-sensei." Goren gulped slightly. Shikamaru turned to the others.

"Does anyone else have any chivalry problems?" Taku grinned and shook his head.

"No, sir. I intend to flatten this girl. Haruka, right?" Haruka straightened her glasses with one index finger.

"Yes. Call me Haruka-_san_, by the way." Taku nodded at her.

"Okay, Haruka-_kun_. I'm going to crush you." Shikamaru winced slightly at the baiting.

"That reminds me. Try not to maim each other, please? That would be difficult to explain to Neji." Shikamaru sat down by the tree. "Well, I can't watch you very well if all three pairs are fighting at once, so you need to go one pair at a time. How about we start off with Haruka and Taku?"

The two genin looked at each other. Taku grinned in a cocky manner, and Haruka simply removed her hands from her pockets.

_I have not seen a weapon like that before,_ thought Haruka, _so I should fight cautiously until I have a better grasp of its capabilities. Perhaps I should use my kikai to attack him from a distance..._ The two walked into the middle of the clearing, until they were facing each other from about fifteen feet away. Shikamaru yawned.

The two genin stood facing each other. Their four teammates watched in suspense. The tension lasted for almost a minute. Finally, Kiyo looked over at Shikamaru. He was staring at the clouds, ignoring the genin.

"SHIKAMARU-SENSEI!" The lazy shinobi looked towards him.

"What?"

"You're supposed to start the fight!" Shikamaru looked at the genin, as if remembering where he was.

"Right...troublesome. Start, then." After a moment of blinking, Taku and Haruka began.

Taku took the ring in his right hand, and began unwinding the chain around his body. When he was done, it was revealed to be almost thirty feet long. He held one end in his hands, and on the other end was a ring with several kunai and other blades sticking from the edge. Taku began to swing the weapon in a rapid circle, and let it fly towards Haruka.

She saw it coming just in time, and jumped, tucking her legs up above the weapon as it went where he stomach had been a moment before. It came within inches of hitting her hand. After the weapon reached the end of its chain, Taku pulled it back rapidly, and sent it flying again. Haruka once again dodged, though barely. She sent a stream of bugs flying towards him through the air, only to have him disperse it with a hit from the weapon.

Immediately after the cloud of bugs was dispersed, they landed on the ground and began to creep back towards Haruka. The trauma of being struck managed to confuse them enough so that they could not fulfill their task. Before Haruka could summon up another group of kikai, Taku struck again.

This time, Haruka attempted to alter her tactics. She tried to block the circle with her kunai. Immediately, Taku's grin showed her that this was a mistake.

The ring bounced off the kunai, and it looked as if it was going to miss her. However, Taku pulled on the chain in precisely the right direction, and the ring altered course. It sailed past Haruka, and curved around. The chain made contact with her back, and pulled the ring into an ever tightening circle. Haruka's arms were trapped by the chains, and in a moment the ring with kunai on the edges would reach the end of its circle and stab her.

"Do you give up?" Taku called out to her as the ring neared the end of its chain. Haruka ignored him and concentrated. Just before, the ring hit her, she was able to use a Substitution jutsu. The blades on the ring bit into a log, and Haruka was gone. Taku yanked the weapon out of the log and pulled it back to his hand. He turned from left to right, but Haruka was nowhere to be seen.

She sprang at him from behind, kunai in hand. _His chain is an effective long range weapon,_ she thought, _but it will be unwieldy in close combat._ To her slight surprise, however, Taku pressed some sort of button and detached the ring from the chain. He detached the ring and wielded it like a kunai to block the blow, but he staggered under the impact more than he should have.

His eyes widened in surprise, and he looked down at his hand. It was trembling slightly.

"What?" Taku was not frowning, but he was no longer smiling as widely. "That's odd...I feel pretty weak." Haruka said nothing, but pressed the attack. Each time she swung the kunai, Taku was able to block, but barely. Finally, she knocked the ring from his hand. She brought the kunai's tip to his throat as he fell to the ground. To her surprise, he laughed.

"I give. You got me." Haruka sheathed her kunai, and straightened her glasses. She did not, however, help him to his feet. She had not forgotten his taunts before the fight. "What did you do to me?"

"Your weapon is an interesting one, Taku-san," said Haruka, "But it left you distracted too much with me. I managed to plant a female kikai on your weapon's chain during your first strike, when I leapt over it. While I distracted you with obvious attacks using some of my kikai, I sent the rest quietly along the ground until they found your body. They ate a large enough portion of your chakra to make you too weak to fend off my attacks." Shikamaru grinned as he heard his student discuss her strategy. He spoke to the two without rising from his position by the tree.

"Haruka, excellent strategy. However, we need to work on your close range combat. If Taku had been fighting at full strength, he would have had you." Haruka gave a slight sigh.

"Yes, Shikamaru-sensei." Shikamaru looked at Taku.

"Taku, your weapon is quite a piece of work. I haven't seen one like it before." Taku beamed slightly.

"Yes, I made it myself. I haven't given it a name yet, though. I intend to wait until my first real battle." Shikamaru nodded.

"You use it well. However, you need to pay better attention to your surroundings. You should have noticed the bugs crawling on the ground." Shikamaru turned to look at the four genin who had been observing.

"Goren, Kari, you two are up." Kari began to grin.

"This is going to be fun."

**A/N: Wow...longest chapter yet. I intend on slowly making the chapters longer. Dunno why...I feel like it. I will try to do it without decreasing the amount of times I update. Obviously, that means writing more.**

**For those of you who are having trouble picturing Taku's weapon, imagine this. It is like those claws on chains the Demon Brothers (those two chuunin Kakashi owned) used, except it has a bladed circle on the end, and it is a little more elegant. To my knowledge, I came up with the idea myself. If there actually is such a weapon, let me know.**

**Read and review! Two words: constructive criticism. I love all of those who review as though they were my children. However, those who give good advice are like the favored children, the pretty honor roll students who are secretly loved more. All of the others are like the slightly ugly children, who are still loved, just a bit less. I feel so mean now...sorry!**


	13. I Don't Hit Girls: Goren vs Kari

**A/N: Thank you, Kirin1, for the help with the honorifics. I may have to use those later.**

**I was told that using 'kun' as an honorific for a female was not correct. My bad...**

Taku bounded to her feet from where she had been sitting. She walked towards the grassy area, but was sure to walk by Taku, who had lowered himself to the ground, still exhausted.

"You did good, Taku-kun" she said. She leaned down, kissed him quickly on the forehead, and darted towards the grassy clearing. Taku blushed, and rubbed his forehead, while Goren and Kiyo stared. Ryuichi simply laughed again.

"I told you," said the swordsman, "You two are going out." Taku glared at him.

"No we're not! She does that to embarrass me...I think." Ryuichi was laughing as Goren stood up and walked after Kari. Haruka appeared to be smirking, while Kiyo was starting to chuckle loudly. Taku glared at them again. "Shut up..." Goren was not smiling, however.

_Crap...I'm going to have to fight her. If I don't hit her, she's going to beat the crap out of me. I'll be embarrassed, in pain, and Shikamaru-sensei will probably get mad. Not to mention, she will probably get offended. It won't be that hard...just don't think about it..._

It was no use. Goren could be accused of several faults, and thinking too much was definitely one of them. He knew that he was not going to be able to bring himself to hit Kari. He knew it was incredibly stupid, and might one day even be dangerous, but he could not bring himself to do it.

He was not sure where this chivalry of his came from. He remembered his father had always told him that it was polite to treat women nicely, but his father was a ninja as well, and had no compunctions over hitting a girl in battle. Goren thought that it probably came from reading too much. In most of his books, the hero was always a dashing young man, who brought the fear of God into his foes, but never lifted his weapon against a woman. In fact, whenever he faced a woman, he was instantly able to show her the error of her ways and sweep her off of her feet. Stupid books...

In fact, reading too much was responsible for several of Goren's difficulties. It was responsible for his lack of close friends, as few wanted to be associated with a bookworm. It was responsible for his slightly pale complexion, as he spent too much time inside with his books. Despite this, he knew that he could never give up reading entirely. He would grow too bored with his life if he did not have anything to read.

Besides, books had given him plenty. They had helped him do well in the Academy, and given him advice on how to be a better ninja. This, coupled with the fact that Goren had few social concerns to distract him from training, led him to be a fairly competent ninja. Besides, he was making friends now, wasn't he?

Goren stopped reflecting once he was facing Kari. If he was going to fight her, would it be possible to win without hitting her? _If I am able to get a kunai to her throat, and make her yield, then I won't have to hit her,_ thought Goren, _but that will be difficult if she's any good at all._ He sighed, and drew his kunai, and prepared himself for the worse.

Shikamaru yawned, but his feign of indifference was a mask. He was paying fairly close attention, he just did it from the most comfortable position possible.

"All right...go!"

Kari jumped backwards immediately. Shikamaru could guess why. If she not only dressed like Tenten, but also fought like her, then she would be a ranged specialist. The more distance she had between herself and Goren, the better. Goren raised his kunai and tensed, unsure of what Kari was going to do.

She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a scroll. With a puff of smoke, she pulled a handful of kunai from it, more than could comfortably fit in a bag. She threw several of them directly at Goren.

Goren's eyes widened. He used the kunai in his hand to deflect one, but not by throwing. He was not good enough yet to throw a kunai and hit a moving kunai in midair. He simply wield the kunai as a dagger and blocked. He was able to dodge two others, although a fourth grazed his shoulder. He winced slightly, but it was not a serious cut. He dashed forward, dodging a few kunai as he ran and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a gas bomb, and threw it at the ground in front of him, only a few feet away from Kari.

The smoke enveloped the girl. She looked around quickly, hoping to see where Goren would attack from.

_Is he using the smoke to sneak around behind me? Or to the side?_ Her question was answered when she saw Goren coming at her from directly in front. She let out a gasp of surprise, and brought a kunai up to block Goren's. However, Goren simply went through her and disappeared. _A bunshin!_ She dropped to the ground, and whirled around looking for the real Goren. The smoke cleared, and she met her wish. She saw Goren...five of him. She was surrounded by Gorens.

_Crap,_ she thought as she slowly turned, trying to keep an eye on as many of the Goren images as she could, _which one of these is real?_ She reached for her scroll, and pulled out several shuriken. In one swift movement, she threw eight shurkin at three of the Gorens in front of her, and whirled to face the two behind her in case they tried to attack. Two of the Gorens were able to dodge, but one was hit and disappeared. The two who had been behind her had indeed rushed at her, but once they saw that she was ready for them they darted away from her, careful not to touch her. They knew that if a clone touched Kari, it would disappear, and if the real Goren touched Kari, the clones would be useless.

Now Kari only had four Gorens to face instead of five. To a civilian, this might seem like a small difference, but to a trained shinobi it was a large difference indeed. Instead of having to look around a pentagram anxiously, she only had four corners of a square to look after. If she was angled right, she could keep an eye on three of the Gorens at once. She slowly kept turning, never leaving a single Goren behind her for more than a few seconds as she plotted her next move.

However, none of the Gorens seemed to have a next move planned. They simply stood, holding their kunai, and shifting slightly. Kari knew that if she was in Goren's situation, she probably would have attacked by now. After all, he had three clones to give him cover...

Unless...

Suddenly, a fifth Goren exploded upwards from the ground, with a kunai in hand. He leapt towards Kari, and was already only inches away from her. She gasped in surprise, and felt his hand brush her. He was real!

She leapt back into a cartwheel, heading directly for one of the illusionary Gorens. She knew that she did not have to worry about it any more. Where she had stook a second before, Goren cursed silently.

_I was too slow!_ Goren frowned. _If I had been a bit quicker, I could have had my kunai to her throat! Now I have to figure out a new strategy._

Shikamaru grinned as he watched the two staring at each other as the dust began to settle back to the ground. Goren let his three remaing bunshins disappear. They were useless now, as Kari knew which ones were fake and which one was real.

Shikamaru had been able to figure out what Goren had done, after a moment. It was a good strategy, not unlike one Shikamaru would have made if he didn't have the Shadow Imitation technique. Still, Shikamaru had noticed one flaw. His student was still refusing to strike Kari. If he had pressed the attack after Kari leapt away, he might have been able to defeat her, as she was off balance. Goren still seemed to be aiming for a victory without having to actually fight. That probably was not going to happen.

Kari brushed a bit of dirt off of her shirt, and pulled out another kunai, as she had thrown her last one. She was frowning thoughtfully as she looked at Goren with a new respect.

"How did you do that?" Kari was slightly confused. "Did you use an earth technique, and come out of the ground from under me?" Goren shook his head slightly, thinking of a strategy even as he spoke.

"Not quite. During the confusion of my smoke bomb, I made six bunshins. I made one of them attack you so you would know I was using illusions, and then got the other five into position. I henged myself into a rock, and hid on the ground. Of course, it was only an illusion, my body wasn't actually transformed into a rock. I was lying on the ground, moving slightly to make sure you didn't step on me. I thought I had found the perfect moment to strike, but apparently not..." Kari grinned as she pulled out more kunai.

"I remember your sensei mentioned you didn't like hitting girls. I'm afraid that I'm not going to give you much of a choice, Goren-kun." Goren sighed. He was not able to think of any good strategies. None of the books he had read ever mentioned a real strategy for fighting an opponent who you couldn't hit. Well, there were some books on the taking of hostages, but most of them assumed that you could hurt the hostage if you didn't kill them. Goren swore silently that someday he would write a book on this subject, hopefully a book that would convince future generations of shinobi to let chivalry rest in peace.

Kari threw three kunai at Goren, and ran close on their heels-well, hilts. Goren was able to dodge them, but just barely. Just after he regained his balance, Kari was upon him. Her kunai swung towards him, and he was able to catch it with his own. He grinned slightly at the look of surprise on her face.

"Shikamaru-sensei said that I didn't hit girls. He never said that I didn't block them, Kari-san." She brought her kunai back, and took another swing at him. She swung again and again, always keeping him on the defensive. _She's good_, thought Goren, _even if I was fighting back, I might not be able to hit her._

Kari frowned as his defense once again rebutted her attacks. While keeping up the assault with her right hand, the hand that she had been using so far, she drew another kunai with her left hand. Suddenly, the amount of attacks on Goren doubled. His eyes widened at her arms nearly became a blur.

_She's ambidextrous? Crap, this is bad..._

Kari had been a difficult opponent when she wielded one kunai, but with two she became a demon. Most people who attempt to use two weapons will simply trip over themselves, but she knew what she was doing. Whenever Goren blocked one of her kunai, he always had to twist in order to avoid the second. He was continuously off balance, and he knew that this was a very bad sign. He was losing this fight.

He knew what his mistakes were. His first was allowing this to become a fight of kenjutsu, of weapons, when his opponent was clearly a weapons specialist. He should have found some other way to fight this girl. His second mistake was obviously the fact that he was too _chivalrous_ to hit his opponent.

_Stupid chivalry, _Goren thought as he was slowly pushed back by Kari's onslaught. _Why did we even bother treating women differently in the first place? Just because of some stupid ancestor who decided we ought to be nice to girls, I'm going to lose this fight...I hate being a gentleman._

The end came fairly quickly, as Goren knew it would. Kari brought her left kunai whistling in towards Goren's side, and he raised his to block it. As soon as he did, her right kunai came in behind his and struck his kunai at the hilt. Rather than lose a finger, Goren quickly let go of his kunai. He was now unarmed in the face of the kunoichi.

He did not give up immediately, though. He dodged another few swings, but soon Kari brought the tips of both kunai to rest in an X, in the middle of which was his neck. He grimaced at the pressure, although she did not press hard enough to cut him.

"I yield," he said with an apologetic grin. Kari had a scowl on her face as she sheathed her kunai.

"Stupid boy," she growled as she turned away and stomped back to her teammates. "Won't hit a girl...so stupid..." Taku looked up at her approach, fearing, or perhaps hoping for, a repeat of the earlier kiss. However, either because she was upset over the fight or because she was simply unpredictable, Taku was completely ignored. Ryuichi laughed again at the look on his face, and this time Kiyo joined in a bit. Taku was not so amused.

"Honestly," he grumbled, "She is so confusing. Sometimes she acts like she is going out with me, then she'll just start ignoring me and flirting with someone. Girls are so weird." He turned and looked at Haruka, who had been sitting quietly. "I suppose you understand her, Haruka-chan?"

Haruka straightened her glasses and stared at him.

"Oh, erm, Haruka-_san_, sorry. You know, never mind." Taku turned away, wincing slightly. Ryuichi leaned close to him, looking concerned.

"Taku-kun, does your mouth feel odd? Does it taste like grass, or perhaps dirt?" Taku was slightly confused, but he suspected a joke.

"Um...no, why?" Ryuichi grinned.

"Well, just wanted to make sure you were okay after sticking your foot in your mouth like that." Taku groaned.

"Oh, that was a bad joke. You know, I don't think I'm going to talk to any girls for a while. It's confusing." Ryuichi scoffed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Ryuichi, "I talk with girls just fine." He waited for a moment, but Taku did not rise to the bait. "Taku-kun?"

"I told you, Ryuichi-kun," said Taku without looking at him, "I'm not talking to girls any more." Ryuichi got the joke in a moment. He winced in mock pain, and was about to reply when Shikamaru began speaking. Then all of the genin fell silent.

Shikamaru spoke to Kari first, in a curt tone that implied that he was holding back some of his emotions.

"Kari, that was excellent kenjutsu, and good aim with your kunai," he said. "However, like your teammate, you need to pay better attention to your surroundings. If Goren had been more willing to strike you, then he could have easily killed you with his ambush." Kari ws about to thank Shikamaru for his praise, but he had already moved on to Goren. Now he was not holding back his annoyance, and was glaring slightly.

"Goren, you used your bunshin and henge jutsus well. You may want to study more genjutsus. However, you have a slightly more serious problem than merely failing to observe your surroundings." Goren winced, as he knew what it was. "You refused to strike Kari, even though it lost you the fight. This kind of behavior _must end._"

Shikamaru was no longer leaning against the tree, but was sitting up straight. He was more focused than Goren had seen him ever before, and it was obvious that he was slightly angry.

"If you are ever in battle," said Shikamaru, "And you fight a female opponent, you must be willing to strike her. If not, she _will_ kill you, and everyone who was depending on you will die as well. If you don't find a way around this, then I'll be forced to make you attend some private lessons with me." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "I can assure you, it won't be fun."

Goren gulped. Shikamaru was being deadly serious. Any more so, and he would have been radiating killer intent. It was now that Goren fully realized that Shikamaru was not merely a lazy jounin, but was a member of the Rookie Nine, and a man to be feared. From the silence behind him, Goren guessed that the other genin had realized it too.

"Sorry, Shikamaru-sensei," said Goren. "I'll try." Shikamaru's gaze softened, and he sighed.

"It's okay. Just don't get us killed before you do." He leaned back against the tree and yawned. "If you guys need me to tell you who is up next, then you need to go back to the Academy. If you still haven't learned the process of elimination at this point in your education, I'll have to have serious words with Iruka-sensei." Ryuichi and Kiyo looked at each other.

"I guess we're up then."

"I guess we are."

**A/N: Ugh...I had to write the last seven or so paragraphs twice because of a saving error. It was fun, though...got to show Shikamaru's serious side. Lots of fun stuff in this chapter...I hope I'm doing okay writing the fight scenes.**

**I just realized that I haven't really given any clues for Daisuke's identity yet. I may later, to help the contest, so keep your eyes open!**

**Read and review!**


	14. Kiyo vs Ryuichi: Specialized Training

Ryuichi stood, and walked over to the place where Kari had stood in her battle against Goren. Kiyo, ready for battle, was observing everything he could about the other boy. For example, he noticed that the boy had made nearly no noise as he walked across the dry grass, implying that he could be stealthy when he needed to.

Kiyo rose, and walked to the opposite end of the clearing. He knew that a good observation could give a clue that would help change the course of a battle, but he doubted he would make any in this fight. He would just have to hope that he was strong enough to beat Ryuichi.

Shikamaru smiled as he saw the two staring each other down. This was to be the last fight of the day—after this, he would move on to training that he did not have to be present for. There still were not any clouds in the sky, but maybe he could find a nice place to take a nap. It was about time for Temari's reply to his last letter to arrive. Maybe he would have a chance to read that…

Oh, yeah. He needed to start the fight. Shikamaru knew that he would pay close attention to this battle. He needed to learn more about Kiyo. Kiyo was a mystery to Shikamaru, and a man of Shikamaru's intelligence was unused to puzzles that he could not solve.

"All right," he said. "Last fight. Ready…go!"

Some fights start off with a blur of action, and a clash of steel. This was not one of those conflicts. The two boys eyed each other, and moved very slowly. Neither was very sure of what the other could do, and did not want to make any risky movements.

Ryuichi pulled his katana out of the sheath slung across his back. Now that he was no longer distracted by Daisuke, Kiyo was able to appreciate its craftsmanship. It was slender and elegant, with no obvious imperfections. The hilt was a dark red, with no ornate decorations. It was practical and businesslike, but not bland. Kiyo slowly reached into his pocket, and pulled out the urn, and popped out its cork.

Ryuichi decided that he would make the first move. In a motion so fast that it nearly seemed to be a blur, he dashed forward at Kiyo, making a slashing motion. Although Ryuichi was fast, far faster than anything Goren or Haruka had displayed during their first fight, Kiyo was able to react in time.

"Water style: Water barrier!" Kiyo made the seals quickly, just after he hitched the urn onto a special hook in his waistband designed specifically for such purposes. Water flowed out of the urn, and formed a liquid shield in front of him.

Ryuichi's sword struck the barrier, and slowed down significantly. A moment later, when it passed through, all of its momentum was gone. Ryuichi nearly lost his footing in surprise, but regained it quickly. He brought his sword up to his right, and made a horizontal slash towards Kiyo. This time, Kiyo already had a kunai out.

He caught the strike on the kunai, and deflected it harmlessly above him. Kiyo prepared for a follow up attack, to catch Ryuichi off guard, but was distracted when he saw the state of his kunai.

It had been chipped slightly. The damage was not major, but Kiyo knew that kunai were designed to go through years of use and abuse before they needed replacement. This meant that Ryuichi's sword was very, very sharp. This, combined with the strength Kiyo had felt when he blocked Ryuichi's blow, meant that he would be a dangerous opponent.

_Then again,_ thought Kiyo as Ryuichi stepped away from him, preparing, _I didn't expect him to be a pushover. He was moving fast when he and Taku broke up my fight with Daisuke._

This could be bad. Speed, power, and a really sharp weapon…Kiyo could not let his guard down in this fight.

"Water style: Water bullet!" Kiyo cast the jutsu several times in rapid succession, feeling the drain on his chakra as he did so. It would be a while before the effects really hit him, though.

Ryuichi had been beginning to suspect that this would be a short ranged fight, and was surprised by the ranged attack. He jumped backwards to give himself a slightly larger amount of time to react, and raised his sword. He used it to block the first water bullet, and decided it was a bad idea after he felt the force behind it. Even after the sword took the brunt of the blow, the water still hit him. However, it did not hit him hard enough to hurt him, just hard enough to be very annoying.

By bobbing and weaving, Ryuichi was able to dodge the second and third water bullet, although one nearly hit his shoulder. He ran forward, sword at the ready. When Ryuichi was only a few feet away from his opponent, Kiyo struck.

"Wind style: Air bullet!" Ryuichi had been expecting another water attack, but he was still able to react quite well. He jumped over the slight shimmering that was the only warning of the bullet of compressed air heading towards him. He came came down with his sword angled straight towards Kiyo.

Kiyo swore to himself as he saw his attack miss, and jumped to the right when he saw Ryuichi sailing towards him. The sword just barely touched his side, and left a paper-thin scratch. Annoying, but not really painful or incapacitating.

Kiyo was slightly off balance as he leapt, and decided to use this to his advantage. He dropped onto both hands in a sort of handstand, and kicked out with both feet towards Ryuichi. Ryuichi's katana was not in a position to block, so he was forced to block the kick with one of his arms.

Ryuichi was knocked back by the blow, wincing at the impact. Kiyo jumped to his feet, smiling slightly at the minor victory he had won. Ryuichi stood for a moment, without moving. Then, he smiled slightly as well.

"You're putting up more of a fight than I thought you would," said Ryuichi. "I must admit, since the first time I saw you was after you started a brawl for no reason, I expected you to lose your temper quite easily. However, you have stayed pretty calm during this whole fight." Kiyo grinned a little wider.

"Well, I was a bit of an idiot yesterday." Ryuichi laughed at this.

"That you were. You're making up for it now, though, Kiyo-san." He raised his sword in front of him. "In fact, I am going to show you one of my best techniques." He brought his arms back behind him, folded, so the hilt of the sword was even with his chest.

"Blue Demon Dash!" Kiyo stared at him, puzzled. At first, nothing seemed to be happening. Then he saw the glow.

Ryuichi's legs had started to give off a blue glow. Kiyo had never seen anything like it before, it was as if blue flames were surrounding Ryuichi's legs, but did not burn him. Shikamaru was able to tell what it was.

_He's gathering chakra into his legs,_ thought Shikamaru, slightly interested, _but what is he going to do with it? _Ryuichi grinned at the stunned look on Kiyo's face.

"I'm gathering a large amount of chakra into my legs," he said, "And it will give me a burst of speed. Not for very long, but more than long enough to beat you." Almost instantly after he finished speaking, he dashed forward. Kiyo's eyes widened-Ryuichi's lower half was simply a blue blur, and Kiyo could barely keep up with his movements. He leaned to his left as quickly as he could, but the sword still cut a thin line across his chest. Goren gasped slightly, and Haruka stiffened. Even Taku and Kari had gone completely still. The blood was obvious even from where they were sitting.

However his injury may have looked, Kiyo had still not yielded. Ryuichi slashed sideways towards Kiyo, but Kiyo was able to catch his arm with his hand. He then punched Ryuichi in the face with his other hand. Ryuichi fell to the ground, a bit of blood trickling from his lip. He stood up slowly, the blue flames fading from his legs. He grimaced slightly.

"You seem to have broken my concentration." Kiyo laughed at this slightly, wincing slightly as his wound twinged.

"You made a mistake," said Kiyo. "You used a jutsu that is full of weaknesses." Ryuichi looked at him, a frown on his face.

"I did just make it recently, and it isn't perfect yet. What flaws did you notice?"

"Well, at first it seemed like a powerful technique," said Kiyo. "That first dash of yours was too fast for me to do anything about. But once you closed to melee range, that advantage was gone. The speed is all in your legs, your arms and sword don't move any faster. In fact, they move slower, that is why I was able to catch your attack. You've taken away some of the chakra in your arms and concentrated it in your legs, making your arms slower. That is a big flaw, for a swordsman." Ryuichi began to laugh.

"I suppose I need to develop it a bit more, then." Shikamaru surprised everyone by standing up, although he _did_ yawn.

"All right," said the jounin, "This fight's over, Ryuichi, your legs are shaking from the chakra you used in that technique. I suggest you talk with Neji about developing your chakra control. Kiyo, we need to stop the bleeding on that cut." Kiyo stared at Shikamaru as Ryuichi sheathed his sword, after wiping the blood off.

"Are we done?" asked Kiyo.

"Oh, no," said Shikamaru with a grin. "I have made my assessment of you now. You are primarily a water and wind style jutsu user, and need a bit of work on your close range combat. Now that I know your individual needs, I can come up with a training regimen." Haruka and Goren stood up, taking interest. After seeing those two stand, Taku and Kari did so as well. Shikamaru turned to face all three of Neji's genin.

"Taku, Kari, Ryuichi, you guys are going to have to go. Sorry, but I can't let you see all of my training methods or it will give you too big of an advantage if we face you during the Chuunin Exams." Neji's genin frowned at this, but Goren perked up.

"We're going to be entered in the Chuunin Exams, Shikamaru-sensei?" Shikamaru looked at him.

"Possibly. I don't quite know yet." Although Kiyo and Goren were excited, Taku was frowning.

"Shikamaru-sensei," Taku said, "Neji-sensei said we needed to train with a jounin while he was gone. What do we do now?"

Shikamaru began to grin.

"Oh, I think I know a guy who could help you."

* * *

Naruto grinned at the looks on his students' faces. Daisuke merely had an eyebrow raised, but Hanako and Hikaru were openly gaping. At least, that is what it looked like to Naruto. It was a little hard to tell, since Naruto was hanging upside down from a tree branch with nothing but chakra holding him up. 

"I want you three to be able to do this," said Naruto. He laughed again as the look of awe changed to one of fear. "Well, not right away. First, just get to where you can run up the tree using your chakra." He dropped down from the tree, flipping as he fell, and landed on his feet. He thankfully had avoided landing on his face, or on one of his students. That would not have been nearly as cool.

"What you do is gather your chakra into your feet," said Naruto, demonstrating as he did so, "And you use it to pull yourself onto the tree. You have to put in enough to make you stick, but if you put in too much you will just damage the tree. You have to use control." The three nodded, and looked at their feet. Each one chose a tree, and ran towards it.

Hikaru and Hanako each made it about five feet up the tree before they fell to the ground, landing more or less on their feet. Daisuke, however, made it ten feet up the tree before he looked down and saw the other two on the ground. Suddenly, although he had seemed to do quite well before, he appeared to lose control and fall.

"Have you done this before, Daisuke-san?" Hikaru looked puzzled, as did Hanako. Daisuke grinned, and ran his hand through his spiky white hair.

"What? No, I haven't. I don't know how I made it so high, that was weird..." Hikaru frowned, but turned back to his tree. Hanako did as well. They each ran up their respective trees again. This time, Daisuke barely made it four feet up the tree.

"See?" Daisuke grinned sheepishly. "That first time must have just been a fluke, or something." Hikaru, who had managed to go a few inches higher than he had last time, grinned good naturedly.

"I suppose we should make this into a contest, then," said Hikaru. Naruto, who had been watching the entire time, laughed.

"You might want to rethink that, Hikaru. Look up." Puzzled, Hikaru and Daisuke looked up, and saw Hanako's tree. The Hyuuga girl was sitting twenty feet above them, on top of a branch. Daisuke gaped, as did Hikaru.

"Hanako-chan!" Daisuke called up to her. "How did you get that high?" Hanako, despite her accomplishment, looked quite distressed as she responded.

"I don't know why it worked so well! I just focused my chakra into my feet like I do into my hands when I use Gentle Fist, and I came up here! And I don't know how to get down!" Hikaru and Daisuke were too busy staring at Haruka with awe and jealousy to laugh, but Naruto laughed enough for the both of them. However, eventually he did walk up the tree and carry Hanako down.

"I probably should have known," said Naruto. "I remember that Hinata-chan mentioned to me once-um, during training-that the Gentle Fist concentrates chakra a lot like the tree walking exercise does. You have a bit of a head start on Hikaru and Daisuke." Hanako stared with her milky white eyes at Naruto, frowning slightly.

"I don't want to get ahead of Daisuke-kun and Hikaru-kun."

Naruto smiled approvingly. She was thinking of her teammates, as well as herself. That was good.

"Don't worry," said the blond jounin, "Even though you have pretty good chakra control, there are still things you can work on. You can make your control even better, for example. Or you can improve your chakra reserves." Hanako looked at Naruto, slightly confused.

"How do I increase my 'chakra reserves,' Naruto-sensei?" He sighed. He knew that if Sakura could see _him_ explaining a chakra concept to someone else, her world would be flipped upside down. Actually, it might be good to have Sakura come and see his team train one day. It could help her get her mind off of Sasuke...if Lee wasn't doing that already. The last Naruto had heard, Lee was still asking Sakura for dates, although with more tact than before, and she was getting closer and closer to saying yes.

_Stop it,_ Naruto thought to himself, _you're supposed to be teaching. This isn't the team to think about your friends' love lives._

"Well, Hanako," Naruto said, "Everyone has a certain amount of chakra when they're born. It travels through their body, in a sort of tangle of veins, and channels, and things." Hanako looked confused for a moment, when Hikaru chipped in.

"Do you mean the chakra system, Naruto-sensei?" Naruto snapped his fingers.

"That's the word! I knew that, though, Hikaru, I was just seeing if you knew. Anyway, the chakra system is intertwined with the rest of your body. You should know about that, Hanako, because the Gentle Fist fighting style is based on the idea of damaging the chakra system to beat the crap out of your opponent. Well, the chakra system is entertwined with muscles, and like a muscle, it can be strengthened. You strengthen it by using it, kind of like weight lifting. If you use your chakra, you will be tired for a while, but once you recover you will be a bit stronger." Naruto straightened and looked at Hanako. "You guys should always take some time to practice and improve your chakra reserves, but I think that is _all_ you should be doing right now, Hanako. You may have better control, but girls generally have smaller reserves than boys. Once you increase your reserves, you will be a better fighter. You can do it by tree climbing. That way, you can improve your control at the same time." Hanako beamed, and ran back to her tree.

"All right, Naruto-sensei!" Naruto grinned at that. His first mini-crisis as a sensei, not counting the fight yesterday, and he had done fairly well. He had not said anything, but this solution also kept Hanako from feeling excluded from the team. Naruto was enjoying being a sensei.

However, Naruto had noticed something odd about Daisuke. In his first run up the tree, he had gone twice as high as the others without any trouble at all. He only seemed to fall once he had seen the others fall, and had not done significantly better than Hikaru since then. In most ways, it appeared that he was at ordinary genin level for chakra control. However, there were some things that were a bit off.

The tree walking exercise was hard work for those that were new at it. After about fifteen minutes, Hikaru and Hanako were both starting to sweat. They were hard of breathing, as well. Daisuke panted some too, but Naruto could tell quite clearly that Daisuke was not sweating. He wasn't nearly as worn out as the other two students. This meant that either Daisuke had abnormally large chakra reserves for a genin, or had done this exercise before. Or both.

Naruto frowned slightly, as he watched Hikaru both climb up fifteen feet on the tree. He would definitely talk this over with Shikamaru next time he saw him. Although Naruto was no longer _quite_ the unobservant idiot he had been, Shikamaru was still better at puzzling things like this out. Maybe he would know something about Daisuke that Naruto didn't.

Naruto was distracted from observing his genin, and reflecting on a certain white haired boy, when he saw three people walking down the road. He squinted, and then recognized them as Neji's genin.

_What are they doing here,_ thought Naruto, _shouldn't they be training with Neji?_ Hikaru, Daisuke, and Hanako all landed from their most recent assault on the tree, and saw where Naruto was looking. Daisuke called out to them first.

"What are you three doign here?" Ryuichi, who was walking in front, responded.

"Neji-sensei is away at a Hyuuga family function. We were training with Shikamaru-sensei, but he told us to come here after a while. Is it okay if we train here?" Naruto was slightly surprised.

"All right, I guess," he said. "Have you three done the tree walking exercise before?"

Kari nodded.

"Yeah. We could still use some practice, though." Naruto nodded.

"All right. Grab a tree and help yourselves." The three nodded, and each ran to a tree.

"Are you sure your legs are okay," said Taku, "After all, you did mess them up a bit, Ryuichi-kun."

Ryuichi laughed at this.

"They're fine, the shaking stopped in about a minute. What about you, isn't your chakra depleted?" Taku shook his head.

"Naw, I got a soldier pill. Handy." Kari glared at the two.

"Aren't either of you concerned about whether I'm okay?" The two stared at her for a moment.

"Why?" Taku asked. "You didn't even get touched in your fight." Kari 'hmph'ed at him, and turned away. Ryuichi chuckled a bit.

"Honestly, Taku-kun, I don't know what she sees in you." Taku was left sputtering, and muttered as he strode off to his tree. Within moments, five out of the six genin were busy trying to climb higher up the tree than their friends. However, Hanako still stood on the ground, frowning. Naruto heard her mutter as she walked to her tree, slowly.

"There isn't a Hyuuga family meeting today..."

Naruto frowned. This meant that either Neji's team was lying to him, or that Neji had lied to his team. That was quite odd.

_Oh well,_ thought Naruto, _I'm sure there's a good reason..._

* * *

Neji sighed as he sipped his tea quietly. When he put down his cup, there was a smile on his face. The man behind him had attempted to enter the room quietly, but Neji was one of Konohagakure's best shinobi. Then again, so was the man behind him. 

"I do not appreciate being forced to lie to my genin," said Neji quietly, "Jiraiya-sama." The Toad Sage walked up to the table, and pulled up one of the two remaining chairs.

"Sorry about that, Neji," said Jiraiya, "But this is a classified mission. It wouldn't do to have little genin running around spouting our secrets to their friends."

Neji frowned at this remark.

"I think that my genin would have more discretion than that, Jiraiya-sama." Jiraiya laughed at that.

"Probably. Still, better safe than sorry."

Neji sighed, and took another sip of his tea.

"When will our third team member arrive? You have worked with him more than I, Jiraiya-sama. Usually, how late is he?"

"A few hours," said Jiraiya, laughing. "But don't worry. I told him that the meeting started at 9:00." Neji looked at the clock on the wall of the restaraunt. It was almost noon.

"You are far more clever than many give you credit for, Jiraiya-sama." When Jiraiya did not reply, Neji looked at him. He was staring at one of the waitresses across the room. "Then again, maybe not."

Both of the shinobi had their attention drawn back to the table when a man pulled up the third chair and sat in it, and pulled out a bright orange book. Jiraiya laughed as he saw it.

"That isn't the latest issue, Kakashi."

The silver haired shinobi looked at Jiraiya with his uncovered eye.

"There's nothing like rereading an old favorite, Jiraiya-sama." Jiraiya beamed at the implied praise.

"For that, Kakashi, I'll give you the most recent issue a month before it comes out in stores."

Neji grew impatient with the perverted men's discussion, and spoke up.

"What have you learned, Kakashi-sama? Were our suspicions correct?" Kakashi looked at him and smiled through his mask.

"You should lighten up, Neji-kun." Then, he became slightly more serious. "We were correct. Akatsuki is no more. All that's left is Itachi, and he has gone into hiding." Jiraiya frowned, and looked at Kakashi.

"Do you have any idea why he did it?" Kakashi shook his head.

"No. He killed his whole family to test his power, maybe he wanted to do the same with Akatsuki. Maybe the Mangekyou drove him insane. I don't know. All I was able to find out is where he's hiding." Neji perked up slightly.

"You know where he is?"

"I only know the general area," said Kakashi. "He's hiding somewhere in Iwagakure, the Rock Village."

**A/N: Blue Demon Dash...man, I hate that name.**

**As for all that stuff about the chakra system, I _think_ that is how it works in Naruto. If I am wrong, oh well. I am taking slight liberties with the Naruto universe-oh yeah, it's not like anyone's ever done that before...**


	15. An Accident

**A/N: I am devoting more time than is healthy for my social life to writing fanfiction. I am trying to get enough ahead that I can have a sort of posting spree on the last day of school.  
**

**I do it all for you, my adoring fans!**

**Speaking of which, I have a response to some of the issues expressed in the reviews for the latest chapter. Yes, I know that Blue Demon Dash is a very lame name...but I can't think of anything better at the moment. If I do, I'll let you know, and right now I'm open to suggestions. Someone said that they liked Daisuke better, and don't worry, he will be showing up more soon.**

**Also, it was said that the meeting between Kakashi, Neji, and Jiraiya wasn't entirely realistic, it should have had more perversion and self praise and such...well, I have a reason. All of them were (mostly) in their 'serious' mode. They were in the middle of an important mission. Don't worry...they will probably have a chance to be their perverted selves later. Well, Jiraiya moreso than Kakashi...**

**One other little snippet before the chapter begins. It is possible I may be submitting a revised version of chapter one relatively soon. I think that my writing has improved slightly throughout the course of this fic, and the first chapter is the one that is read the most, so it's important for it to be one of the best. Keep your eyes peeled! **

Shikamaru looked at his students, sitting in a line in front of him. Kiyo was on the right, Goren on the left, and Haruka sat in the middle between the two boys. They all looked at him expectantly, ready to hear his decision for their training. He gave on last sigh of regret, looking at the cloudless sky before he spoke to the trio. Well, to be precise, he spoke to Goren. It would just confuse them if he gave all three of his ideas at once.

"Goren," he said, "I've already been over the fact that you need to be able to hit girls, in the likely event that you will someday face a kunoichi in combat." He ignored Goren's bashful look, and continued. "However, there are other issues that need to be addressed. Frankly, you don't seem to have any sort of field where you show a particularly high talent. That doesn't mean you're deficient, it just means you haven't chosen an area to specialize in yet. During the battle, you used an excellent use of bunshin, and a very good strategy. Goren, what do you know about genjutsu?"

Goren blinked for a moment, and then went through his mental library. He knew he had read something about genjutsu before...

"Genjutsu are techniques that affect the flow of chakra in the brain," said Goren when he remembered more about them, "They cause illusions and hallucinations in the victim. If they are particularly skillful, they can prevent the victim from even realizing that they are under a genjutsu." Shikamaru nodded at the textbook definition.

"That's right. Have you considered becoming a genjutsu specialist?"

Goren shook his head.

"No, Shikamaru-sensei. Do you think that would be to my strengths?"

Shikamaru looked Goren over for a moment, thinking.

"You seem to be intelligent, and that is important in a genjutsu user. Coupled with a strategic mind, you could use genjutsu as a deadly weapon. Yeah, that might work nicely for you."

Goren smiled in excitement at the prospect of something new to learn.

"What should I do now, then?"

"Right now, you need to do some research into genjutsu. Learn about them, and maybe some basic techniques." Shikamaru thought another moment, and smiled. "An old friend of mine is a genjutsu specialist. I might have her talk to you." Goren nodded, still smiling. He already had several books in mind..._Jutsu of the Mind, and the Theory Behind Them_ might be good to read...

While Goren was already planning his reading, Shikamaru turned his attentions to Haruka. She had guessed that she was next, and had straightened slightly as she adjusted her sunglasses. _Hm..._thought Shikamaru, _the way she adjusts her glasses is the closest to displaying emotion that she comes to on a regular basis. Maybe, eventually, I will learn to judge how she's feeling from the way her glasses are...that would be something._

"Haruka, you seem to use your kikai in a fairly efficient manner. I used to work with your brother fairly often, so I have a fair idea of how the kikai live inside you. Shino told me that the strength of your family techniques often relied on the size of your kikai colony. Is that right?"

Haruka nodded, slightly surprised that an outsider knew so much about her clan's techniques.

"Yes, Shikamaru-sensei. My own colony is relatively small, compared to nii-san's at this age."

"Well, what can you do to increase it?"

Haruka paused a moment. She was thinking over what she would say. _These are the techniques passed down through our family from generation to generation...we are always told to keep them secret. But...Shikamaru-sensei does already seem to know a lot about them. And he is a friend of nii-san's...I do not see how it could hurt._

"The kikai feed off of our chakra," Haruka said, "So before a colony can increase its size significantly, it must have a larger source of chakra to feed on."

"So," said Shikamaru, thinking, "You need to increase your chakra reserves?" Upon seeing the Aburame girl nod, Shikamaru smiled slightly. "Well, I think that I know a good exercise for that. Until I show you the exercise, continue practicing your family techniques, and see if you can learn any more from your brother."

Shikamaru yawned once more, and turned to face Kiyo. Kiyo, having mastered the process of elimination long ago, knew that he was next and was staring directly at Shikamaru.

"What about me," Kiyo asked, "Shikamaru-sensei?"

Shikamaru looked at him with a slightly annoyed expression.

"Hold on! I'm coming to it. You appear to be mainly a water jutsu user, although you also use wind techniques." Shikamaru grinned slightly, as the idea of wind techniques always reminded him of Temari. He brought his mind back to the current situation fairly quickly, however. "I have been wondering, Kiyo, what exactly is that urn you have? Those runes on it couldn't have been cheap to make."

Kiyo looked down at the urn, which was still on his belt. He unattached it and placed it in his pocket as he spoke.

"This is a family heirloom. It's used to hold large amounts of water, for water technique users who aren't skilled enough to perform water jutsus without a nearby water supply. My mother's family used water techniques, and I received this urn from her as my inheritance, while my father's family taught me wind techniques."

Shikamaru smiled. This was more information than Kiyo had revealed about anything so far. He saw that Haruka and Goren had taken interest as their teammate revealed more about his family than he had before. However, Shikamaru could not help but notice that Kiyo still offered no explanation of who his family actually was, only that they were wind and water users who were apparently rich enough to afford such a valuable item.

Ignoring this information for the time being, accepting that Kiyo would open up to him at some later point, Shikamaru continued with his analysis of Kiyo's abilities.

"Right now you seem to have the best mastery of your specialty, moreso than Goren or Haruka. Also, you are fairly good at close range combat. However," said Shikamaru, with a bit of sterness to keep Kiyo from getting a swelled head, "Your taijutsu _could_ use some improvements. Also, you eventually should learn water jutsus well enough that you can perform them without a source of water nearby. However, for that, you need to improve your chakra stores." Shikamaru looked around at the three.

"Well, two out of the three of you require more chakra as part of your training. Goren, it wouldn't hurt you either. Therefore," said Shikamaru, reluctantly standing up for the first time since he had arrived, "I'm going to teach you an exercise that will help you improve your chakra stores, as well as your chakra controlled." Shikamaru grinned slightly. "It involves climbing trees."

* * *

Naruto had tried as hard as he could to be attentive, alert, and interested. He remember all too well what it was like when Jiraiya or Kakashi had been training him and lost interest, it had been incredibly annoying. However, now that he was the sensei, he was finding it incredibly hard to even pretend he cared what his students were doing. 

In his defense, watching a student run up a tree can only be interesting for so long. At best, each student only made a progress of a few inches per try. It was slightly rewarding at first, watching his students progress before his eyes, but it became boring after a while. Soon, he was starting to take a nap instead of observe his students.

After a while, the students became slightly bored. They were not as competitive as Naruto and Sasuke had been, and became tired after a while of the repetitive runs up the tree. At one point, after all six of the genin had dropped to the ground from their latest attempt, Taku spoke up.

"All right," he said, "This is getting kind of boring. Is there anything else we could do?"

Naruto who had been semiconscious for a while, woke up.

"Wha...something else? Like what?"

Daisuke looked at him skeptically.

"Shouldn't _you_ tell _us_?"

Naruto grinned nervously.

"Hey, give me a break! I'm new at this!"

Hanako nodded, agreeing with Daisuke.

"You _are_ the sensei, Naruto-sensei. What do you think we should do?" Naruto glared at the Hyuuga for throwing her support against him, then thought a moment.

"Well...I suppose you could spar a bit. That's what you did with Shikamaru, right?"

Ryuichi nodded, but grimaced slightly.

"Yeah, but if we spar again, we probably shouldn't go all out. I think we're all a bit tired from our first matches, and from the tree climbing."

Naruto nodded, still trying to wake up completely.

"All right, then. Pick a partner. Hanako, Hikaru, Daisuke, go easy on these guys, okay!" Naruto grinned as he said that, and sat back down. Taku glared at him in annoyance, while Kari just sighed. Daisuke laughed, Hanako looked slightly embarrassed, and even Hikaru smiled slightly.

Kari walked over to Daisuke, and folded her arms over her chest.

"I think I'll fight you, Daisuke-kun," she said, smiling playfully. Daisuke nodded, slightly surprised.

"Um...all right then."

She poked him in the chest, leaning forward, putting her face much too close to Daisuke's than was comfortable for him.

"_You_ don't have any problems fighting with girls, do you?"

"Er-no, I don't."

Suddenly, Kari was all smiles. She leaned forward and hugged Daisuke excitedly.

"Good! This time I can have a fun fight!"

Daisuke stood completely still, not entirely sure of what to do. Hikaru started chuckling, and Hanako's face turned red as she saw her teammate's predicament. Taku was staring oddly, and Ryuichi started laughing at him.

"Not jealous, are you, Taku-kun?"

Taku glared at Ryuichi.

"No, I'm not!" Growling, he looked around for a partner. He spied Hanako first, and stalked off over to her. He grabbed her hand and started dragging her away.

"Come on," he growled, "Let's fight."

Hanako started to stammer slightly, a trait that she borrowed from Hinata when she was flustered.

"But-I-you seem-" Finally, she sighed and gave in. She was not looking forward to fighting someone who was already so obviously angry, but it could have been worse. Ryuichi watched them go, still laughing, then turned to look at Hikaru.

"I guess that leaves us, then."

"I suppose so," said Hikaru. "Are you feeling up to a battle, or should I 'go easy on you?'"

Ryuichi grinned slightly.

"Don't go all out on me, Hikaru-kun, but don't slouch around either. If you do, I might hurt you."

Hikaru cocked an eyebrow.

"I guess we will see about that, Ryuichi-san."

* * *

Shikamaru watched as Goren, then Haruka, then Kiyo fell to the ground. They had just run up the tree, for at least the twentieth time since they had begun their training. It was apparent that Kiyo was slightly ahead in chakra control, closely followed by Haruka, with Goren in last. However, the differences between them were very slight. Not enough to cause jealousy, but large enough to be noticed. 

The lazy Nara sighed, and laid down on the grass, once again cursing the lack of clouds. He decided to distract himself from the endless azure sky by thinking of his other favorite thing to watch-Temari.

It had been several months since the last Chuunin Exam, and the next one was just around the bend. Not only did this mean that Shikamaru had to decide whether or not to enter his genin, but this also meant that Temari would be arriving in Konoha soon.

For the past ten years, Temari had always represented Suna in the Chuunin Exams. This was partly because she was the Kazekage's brother, which afforded her a high status, but also because she wanted to see Shikamaru. It had been while they were working together on the Exams that they had finally found their feelings for each other, and they had both helped out with the Chuunin Exams every year since.

_Until now,_ Shikamaru thought. This year would be different...as a sensei, he could not proctor the Exam. He wondered how Temari would react when she found out that he had finally received a group of genin-she would probably laugh, and say that it was about time that Tsunade had made him do some real work around the village.

Shikamaru chuckled to himself. That was exactly what she would say...

* * *

Hikaru winced as Ryuichi's sword impacted with his kunai, chipping it once again. The kunai already looked as though it was years old, even though he had bought it only recently. If the fight went on much longer, it might even break... 

After successfully parrying Ryuichi's blow, Hikaru struck out with his kunai towards his opponent. However, his kunai was significantly shorter than Ryuichi's sword, obviously, and the longer range he had to reach left him vulnerable. Ryuichi swatted his kunai aside, and Hikaru was forced to jump backwards in order to avoid Ryuichi's counterattack.

"This isn't good!" Hikaru exclaimed loudly. Ryuichi paused to see what Hikaru was saying. "This kunai isn't a good match for your sword at all...another sword would be better."

Ryuichi raised an eyebrow at this.

"You want to fight me with a sword?"

Hikaru nodded, still thinking.

"Yes, I would like to try that. However, it doesn't look like you have a spare on hand..."

Ryuichi grinned at this statement.

"I don't, but Kari-chan does..." He turned to face the kunoichi, locked in combat with Daisuke. "Hey! Kari-chan! Could I borrow a sword for Hikaru-kun?"

Kari turned to face him, panting, and Daisuke paused as well. For the duration of the fight, Kari had been throwing weapons at Daisuke and occasionally closing in to close combat with one of her many melee weapons. Daisuke had countered this by dodging her ranged attacks and holding his own in the melee, although he did not provide much of an offensive. It was turning into a contest of endurance, which Daisuke seemed to be winning. He looked much less exhausted than Kari, but perhaps that was because he had only sparred once today.

"Sure," she said, "Let me get one." She to her scroll, and summoned a sword from it. It was obviously nothing like Ryuichi's, as far as quality went, but it was still a perfectly servicable katana. She tossed it, end over end, towards Hikaru. "Catch!"

Hikaru's eyes widened, and his mouth opened.

"What the-" He reached out by reflex and managed to catch the sword by the hilt. He winced, looking at his hand, surprised that it had not been cut off. "What was that?!"

Kari grinned, as did Ryuichi. Ryuichi explained, as Kari went back to her battle of attrition with Daisuke.

"That was to test your reflexes. You need to have good eyesight and coordination to use a katana correctly." Hikaru grimaced, but accepted the explaination, and gripped the katana with two hands. Almost immediately, however, Ryuichi walked up to him, shaking his head.

"No, no, you don't grip it that way. You position yours hands just like this..."

While Ryuichi was giving Hikaru a crash course in swordsmanship, Hanako was still fighting against Taku. The Hyuuga girl and the chain wielding boy were both around as exhausted as Kari and Daisuke, but their battle had been quite different.

Hanako had long since activated her Byakugan eyes, and was being forced to use them to hold her own in the fight. Taku was putting his all into the fight, even considering the fact that he was already tired. He was ignoring the pains in his arm that were devoloping, and threw the chain over and over again. Hanako went back and forth from dodging his attacks to occasionally using a perfectly placed Jyuuken strike to knock the chain away from her. However, it took too long for Hanako to get ready after a dodge, and she did not have a chance to attack. Like Daisuke and Kari, their fight was a matter of who could continue longer-Hanako and her dodges, or Taku and his attacks.

Taku looked to the side for a brief moment between attacks, although not long enough to give Hanako an opening. He saw Kari still fighting with Daisuke, both near the edge of exhaustion, but seemingly enjoying themselves. He growled slightly as he saw the two. He definitely wasn't jealous-after all, he would have to be going out with Kari to be jealous, which he was not. Still, it was annoying watching the two of them...

With a slight grunt, Taku went back to hurling his weapon towards Hanako. He did not lose his temper, or he would not have been able to control the chain with as much grace as he did. Still, there was no denying the fact that there was more anger behind the blows than there had been before. Hanako was definitely able to notice the difference, as she was on the receiving end of the results of this 'not-jealousy.'

_This could go on forever,_ thought Haruka, wiping sweat from her eyes as she dodged another swipe of the chain, the blade nearly hitting her hair. _This is already getting boring...I need to do something to change the pace. Well, I could use that...but I'm not sure I'm ready yet..._She smiled slightly. There wasn't harm in trying, was there? Hanako had decided-she was going to try to use it.

The chain was coming directly at her, and Hanako did not make a move to dodge. Instead, she began to spin, emitting chakra as she did so.

"Eight Trigrams Palm Heavenly Spin!" **A/N: This shall be henceforth known as Kaiten. Normally, I don't use Japanese, but that name is just too long.**

* * *

Hikaru breathed out deeply, steadying himself as he raised his katana in front of him. He held it at a slight angle and gripped with both hands, just as Ryuichi had showed him. Ryuichi inspected his stance, nodded his approval, and prepared his own katana. Without warning, he rushed into an attack. 

Surprised, Hikaru managed to parry several times. He even made one attempt at a counterattack, which was easily swept aside by Ryuichi. The katana was Ryuichi's weapon, and Hikaru could not hope to best him with it unless he had some sort of other advantage. It was not longer before Hikaru's katana was on the ground, and Ryuichi's was at his neck.

Hikaru sighed, and pulled himself to his feet. He wiped the dust off of his shirt meticulously, an instinct that growing up with rich parents had instilled in him, and looked at Ryuichi, grimacing.

"That was not much of a fight, I'm afraid, Ryuichi-san." To his surprise, Ryuichi shook his head at that statement.

"No, Hikaru-kun, you did very well. I have used a katana for nearly my whole life, the fact that you managed to stand against me at all is impressive. I think you're a natural at this."

Hikaru raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. He had never given much thought to what he would specialize in when he became a ninja, he had always assumed that he would somehow find his strength and begin to train in it. It appeared that that time had come. Perhaps Hikaru would become a swordsman.

The more he thought about it, the more Hikaru liked the idea. It was certainly preferable to not having a specialty at all...Hikaru grinned and raised his sword again.

Let's have another spar, Ryuichi-san. This time, please tell me what I do wrong." Ryuichi nodded his approval, and showed Hikaru the flaws and openings in his stance. With a few simple corrections, Hikaru felt his body slipping more naturally into place. He liked this style of fighting.

Although becoming a shinobi had not endeared him in the eyes of his family, Hikaru was still the son of a merchant. He had an orderly, methodic mind, the sort of mind that had helped his father, and his father's father prosper greatly when it came to matters such as counting money. However, it was beginning to seem to Hikaru as though this mind of his was going to begin helping.

So far, as much as Hikaru could tell, swordsmanship was a set of stances, and strikes to go with them. It was a matter of improvisation, and keeping the correct counters to your opponent's moves in mind. Hikaru had always prided himself on his analytical mind, and thought that it would be put to good use here.

He was slightly surprised when Ryuichi stopped for no apparent reason. He lowered the tip of his sword, looking at Ryuichi expectantly.

"You're fighting me like a robot, Hikaru-kun."

Hikaru looked at Ryuichi, surprised at this seemingly random statement.

"What do you mean?"

"You are executing the moves well," said Ryuichi, "You have memorized the movements nearly perfectly. However, swordsmanship is more than memorizing techniques and using them." Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

"What is the other part, then?"

"The other part is feeling, Hikaru-kun." Ryuichi grinned. "You need to fight with passion, or you will be beaten. Of course, you can't let your feelings overwhelm you, or you will be distracted and also beaten. To be a swordsman, you must find the balance between form and feeling. It is a fine edge to walk, much finer than the edge of a katana. It is not an easy path."

Hikaru looked down at his katana, thinking. Just when he had thought he had figured out this new fighting style, a new twist was thrown at him...he was about to think of a response to Ryuichi's statement, but he was distracted by a scream, coupled with a yell, from the direction of Hanako and Taku.

* * *

Daisuke kicked out with one sandaled foot, and knocked away a kunai that had been speeding towards his right leg. He did not have time to appreciate his own skill, for another three were coming towards his chest. For the hundredth time since the fight had begun, Daisuke wished he was skilled enough to catch kunai in midflight, or at least deflect them with his own. Dodging, though it had started out as relatively easy, was becoming tiring. 

He jumped about four feet to the right, and the kunai zoomed harmlessly by him. He pulled out two of his own kunai and threw them at Kari, both aimed for a spot slightly above her stomach. Kari simply deflected the kunai with two of her own, and in the same motion threw a small axe directly at Daisuke's forehead.

His eyes widened as he ducked, and the axe thudded into the tree behind him. He turned around and saw it quivering from the impact, and looked back at Kari.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

However, while he had been looking at the tree, she had pulled out another fistful of kunai, and a metallic barrage was already on its way towards Daisuke. He was definitely beginning to wish he could some defensive jutsus, but it would definitely seem weird to everyone else if a genin Daisuke's age knew some of the techniques that Daisuke's father had taught him. Until the rest of his team advanced, Daisuke would have to stay at a lower level.

Daisuke understood that it was important that he did not completely reveal his talent, but it was still annoying that he had to dodge all of these weapons using only taijutsu. Just has it had been annoying all of these years to hold back during the Academy tests...it made him frustrated. His only comfort in the fact was that if he was ever in a serious situation, his unexpected skill could give him the advantage of surprise that he would need to save his friends.

Although Daisuke was working too hard to sigh outwardly, inwardly he sighed. His mother had told him countless times the reasons that his identity had to remain secret. He had learned them since he was a small child, and in his mind he knew them to be true. Still, there were days he wished that he did not have to keep secrets from his sensei, from his teammates.

He dodged another axe, this one not coming as dangerously close. _Someday, soon, it won't matter any more. Soon I'll be able to reveal myself._ Daisuke grinned as he dodged another kunai, and lunged forward in an attempt to attack. However, he faltered as he saw what had happened behind Kari. As he saw what had happened to Hanako and Taku's fight.

* * *

"Kaiten!" 

Chakra began to form in a globe encircling Hanako. She had never used this technique successfully before, and the strain was harder than she had expected. However, it was just the technique she needed to turn the tide of this fight. Instead of simply dodging the chain, Kaiten might be able to rip it out of his hands, leaving him open to an attack.

However, Hanako quickly noticed that something was wrong. The globe wavered before Taku's weapon reached it, the circular shape beginning to shift back and forth. Hanako's eyes widened as she spun, attempting to correct the globe.

_Oh no! My chakra control isn't good enough,_ she thought, _the shield is collapsing!_ It appeared that Hanako had attempted to use a technique that was still beyond her ability to use. She was sure, however, that her sister Hanabi had been able to use it at this age...Hanabi found everything to be easy.

Taku frowned at the shield, as he was unfamiliar with the Hyuuga clan's techniques. He had not heard of this shield before, and did not know something was wrong when it began to waver. His weapon went straight for Hanako, who was in the center.

Naruto was watching, and he was able to recognize that the shield was nore correct. However, he did not understand the implications of this in time to prevent what happened next.

When the chain weapon reached the shield, the extent of Hanako's error was revealed. A fully functional Kaiten would have reflected the chain, sending it flying in a different direction, perhaps even back at its wielder. However, when the first blade struck Hanako's Kaiten, it simply collapsed under the strain. The weapon flew towards Hanako, who was in no position to dodge it at the time.

It was fortunate that only the first blade on the chain struck Hanako fully. However, that was bad enough. It struck her in the back, midway between her spine and her left shoulder blade. She gave a gasp of pain, and blood came from her mouth. A moment later, she stopped spinning, and screamed as she looked at the blood staining her jacket. The knife had gone fully into her, at least four inches of steel.

Vaguely, she saw Taku yell in horror and drop his weapon, and run over to her. She collapsed on the ground, her vision fading as Naruto suddenly appeared by her side. By the time Daisuke, Kari, Hikaru, and Ryuichi ended their fights to see what had happened, she was already unconscious, bleeding, and still.

**A/N: Ouch...I feel mean. Not only is that wound important to the plot, it's also here to remind you that this isn't a kiddie fic. I will bring blood, sadness, and death eventually. Possibly profanity, but only if the situation calls for it...I find it hard to imagine Temari never swearing, ever.**


	16. Domestic Issues

**A/N: Wow…sixteen chapters…this fanfiction has evolved beyond my original plans. For those who haven't figured it out by now, this is going to be a long one. Eventually, there will most likely be a sequel. Where I draw the sequel line is still under debate, however.**

**I really can't make any predictions for how many chapters there will be. I have a lot of the story mapped out, but it is all in my head. I know certain events that will definitely happen, and the order they will happen in, but I'm still working on connecting some of them. Bear with me!  
**

**By the way...this chapter is semi-dedicated to Padfoot, for being the most faithful reviewer I have right now. Thanks, Padfoot!**

_Fuzzy..._

"Don't worry, Naruto, the blade missed her vital organs, it hit nothing but muscle..."

_Everything is in a sort of haze...what's happening to me?_

"This is an odd weapon, I've never seen anything like it before. What is it called? Taku-kun?"

"I-I don't have a name for it right now, Haruno-sama. I'm not feeling very fond of it right now."

_Oh...Taku-kun. The blade in my back. I remember part of it now...I tried to use Kaiten in our duel._

"Is she going to be all right, Sakura-chan?"

"I told you not to worry, Naruto! She'll be fine...the drugs are wearing off, and she should be waking up in a couple of minutes."

_That was pretty stupid of me...I've never been able to do it right anyways. Father says that if I don't start showing more talent, I might never learn the advanced Hyuuga techniques._

_Oh...father...what will he say? He'll know this is my fault...but will he be mad at me? Or will he be mad at Taku-kun, or Naruto-sensei? I hope he's not...it isn't their fault._

"Hanko. Hanako!"

The Hyuuga girl opened her eyes blearily, and looked around. Naruto was standing directly over her, a look of concern and worry upon his normall beaming face. Next to him were Daisuke, Hikaru, Kari, and Ryuichi. Slightly behind them, with a stony face, was Taku. On the other side of her hospital bed was a pink haired woman who looked vaguely familiar to Hanako.

She blinked slowly, her pale eyes rimmed with exhaustion.

"What happened? Did I get hurt in the fight?"

Naruto nodded, relieved now that he knew his student was all right.

"Yeah, you tried to use Kaiten and it didn't work," said the jounin. "Taku's weapon went right through it." Right after he said this, Naruto winced. Hanako saw why, as it seemed to make Taku shrink even farther into himself. She frowned slightly as she looked at the boy who had put her into a hospital bed. It took her a moment, but she was able to hazard a guess as to why he seemed so withdrawn.

"Taku-kun?" The boy looked up at her, grimacing slightly. He had been trying to avoid notice, but he was not too surprised that Hanako wanted to talk with him. He knew that _he_ would be mad at someone who shoved a knife into his back.

"What is it, Hanako-san?"

She smiled weakly at the sudden formality he possessed. _He definitely wasn't this polite during the fight...he must blame himself for my injury._

"I just wanted you to know that this wasn't your fault, Taku-kun," said Hanako. "I shouldn't have tried to use Kaiten, I'm not very good at it yet." Taku stammered slightly, but then composed himself.

"Still, I should have been more careful," he said. "I shouldn't have been aiming for such a damaging strike."

Hanako opened her mouth to protest, but to her surprise, Naruto beat her to it.

"Don't be a baka, Taku," he said. "I told you guys to fight, and that's what you did. You only followed my directions. Accidents happen, and there's no point in blaming yourself for them."

Naruto had a look on his face that implied forgiveness. Taku cheered up slightly when he saw the encouraging faces of his teammates, and the smiles on the faces of Naruto and Hanako. Hikaru was not smiling, but he rarely did. Daisuke, however was frowning slightly.

_I don't know about the others, _thought Taku,_ but Daisuke doesn't seem to be as willing to forget the thing. _Taku sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and turned to look at the pink haired woman.

"When will Hanako-san be fully healed, Haruno-sama?"

Hanako's eyes widened when she heard the name. _Haruno-sama...does he mean Haruno Sakura? The legendary student of Tsunade? Naruto-sensei's teammate?_ Sakura did not notice Hanako's surprise at recognizing her, or if she did she did not bring any attention to it.

"Oh, she'll be fine by tomorrow morning, Taku-kun," she said, smiling. "It really wasn't that serious of an injury, it just made Hanako go into shock. It wasn't life threatening at all."

Taku relaxed visibly at this news, although he still felt slightly guilty. Despite bravado during fights, his cocksure manner, Taku had never even seriously hurt, let alone killed, someone in a fight. This was the closest he had ever come...and so far he was definitely not enjoying the experience.

Taku looked at the weapon on his belt, the blood having been cleaned off of it. To his knowledge, he had come up with the idea of the weapon entirely by himself...at least he had never heard of anyone else using something like it. He knew from the legends of his clan, a clan of blacksmiths, that every great weapon is given a name. He had made his weapon hoping that someday he would accomplish enough with it to make it worthy of its own name, the first of its kind. But now...

Taku stared at the weapon, his imagination supplying the blood that was no longer there. _I nearly killed someone with this,_ thought Taku, _and not in self defense, or in battle against an enemy. I seriously hurt a comrade, a shinobi of Konoha._ This, more than anything his parents had told him about forging weapons, made Taku realize the truth of what he held in his hands.

It was not a pretty piece of steel, or a legend in the making. It was a weapon, and weapons hurt people.

Up until now, Taku had known consciously that one day he was probably going to kill someone. It was part of being a shinobi-you took lives. Usually, it was in self defense, or to protect Konoha. However, knowing something in your head is far different from knowing it in your guy. Taku's fist tightened on the weapon.

_I will never use this to harm a friend, _he vowed to himself. _This weapon will only shed the blood of enemies of Konoha._

Unaware of the conflict going on inside Taku, Sakura turned to face Naruto. The kunoichi had matured greatly since her first years as a genin, and looked upon Naruto as though he were a brother. Granted, an occasionally annoying, loudmouthed baka of a brother, but a brother all the same.

"So, are you enjoying being a sensei, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, it's been great! Well, up until this happened..." Naruto's smile faded slightly. Then, his eyes widened. "Oh, crap! I have to let Hinata and her family know about this!"

"We already do. Thank you for your concern, however."

The dry voice came from the door of the hospital room. Hyuuga Hiashi stood with his arms folded, Hanabi standing just behind him and to the side, staring at the genin in the room. He had opened the door and entered without attracting anyone's attention, which was quite an accomplishment, as two of the strongest shinobi in the Konoha Eleven were present. Of course, this was Hiashi, the Head of the Hyuuga Clan.

Naruto stepped forward to greet the man.

"Hiashi-sama, I was about to find you, to tell you about your daughter. There was an accident during training, and-"

Hiashi ignored him and walked directly towards his youngest daughter Hanabi following closely behind. Then, Hinata entered the room as well. It was obvious she had been trailing behind her family slightly, and just caught up. She opened her mouth when she entered, as though about to speak, but when she saw her father she stopped.

Hiashi came to a halt in front of his daughter's bed, and looked down at her with an unreadable expression on his face. His pale eyes seemed to be boring holes into her head.

"What happened, Hanako?"

She gulped slightly before answering.

"Well, otou-sama, **(A/N: Hope that's spelled right...)** I was sparring with Taku-kun, and I tried to use Kaiten. I know I'm not good enough yet, but I thought it could work. His blade went into my back, and I passed out."

Daisuke and Hikaru both frowned slightly. They had been on Hanako's team for only a few days, but they had known for even longer in Iruka's class. Even if they had not known her for years, and only for days, they still would have been able to judge her personality in at least one aspect. On every occasion that either of the boys could remember, Hanako had been giddy, irrepressably cheerful. The presence of her father seemed to have changed everything, however.

Hanako was not staring her father in the eye, but was staring at her lap. Her hands were folded across her lap, and she was fiddling with her fingers, a task that seemed to attract all of her attention. Daisuke had to wonder what kind of person her father was to cause such a drastic change in her personality. It did not seem to say much that was positive about him.

Hikaru and Daisuke both looked at each other, at nearly the same time. They shared an inperceptable nod between them. This would need to be discussed later.

Hiashi frowned slightly as he heard this, and turned to face the others in the room. Taku cringed slightly, sure that he was about to be admonished. However, Hiashi did not focus his ire upon him.

"You were supervising their training, were you not?" Hiashi's eyes were focused entirely upon Naruto. "How did you allow this to happen?"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. He had not expected this.

"Well, I saw her use Kaiten in the duel, but I didn't think it was going to fail..." Naruto winced slightly as he heard how weak his argument sounded, and winced even more when Hiashi took umbrage at the statement.

"Are you trying to blame my daughter for this, Uzumaki?"

Daisuke straightened up and glared at Hiashi, angry at his rudeness towards his sensei. Hikaru straightened as well, although he showed no signs of anger. If Hiashi noticed them, he gave no sign. Hanabi, however, glared at them.

Naruto's mouth opened in surprise. He managed to close it before speaking again.

"No, I'm just saying that I was caught off guard."

Hiashi's frown deepened.

"The fact that you were...'off guard,' as you put it, caused my daughter serious harm." Hiashi was staring directly into Naruto's eyes. "Do not allow this to happen again." Behind Naruto, Hinata was looking at the floor, downcast. She had hoped that Naruto's first meeting with her father would go well. This was not what she had imagined at all...and Hiashi did not even know about their relationship yet!

Naruto had no idea what to say to this. His face turned red with anger, but then a thought struck him that cooled it completely. What if Hiashi was right, and it was his fault?

It was Naruto's job as a sensei to watch after his genin, to teach them _and_ protect them. In the latter, he had definitely failed. He had not been watching closely enough to prevent Hanako from being hurt. It was only pure luck that had kept the wound from being serious. These doubts prevent Naruto from retorting to Hiashi, and the Hyuuga Clan Head turned away from him to face his youngest daughter.

"Leave us for a moment," he said. "I need to speak with my daughter in private. This is a Hyuuga matter."

Daisuke was about to protest, but Naruto put a hand on his shoulder, silencing him.

"Let's wait outside, Hikaru, Daisuke." The orange clad jounin turned to look at Neji's genin. 'You three can go home. Training is definitely over for the day." The three nodded, but Taku spoke up.

"Naruto-sensei...I will tell Neji-sensei about what happened."

Naruto looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. He had been debating whether or not to mention this incident to Neji...now the matter was settled for him. He walked outside, pulling Daisuke along with him, and Hikaru followed. Neji's genin left as well, heading for their respective houses. Sakura walked off as well, saying something about needing to see another patient. Naruto shared one last look at Hinata as he left, and in her eyes he seemed to read an apology for her father's actions. He flashed her a smile that he did not really feel, and then the door closed.

* * *

Hiashi watched the door close, and then turned back to Hanako. Hanabi, who had stood silent until now, finally spoke from her father's shadow. 

"Hanako, Hanako, why would you use Kaiten? That was only asking for trouble!" Hanabi wore a playful smirk on her face, but it died when she saw the look on her father's face.

"This is not a time for frivolity, Hanabi."

"Yes, otou-sama."

Hiashi sighed, and gave his attention to Hanako.

"Hanako, you must remember that you are a Hyuuga. You have a reputation to uphold amongst the common people. To attempt to perform a technique, and fail...it shows weakness, Hanako." He straightened his back slightly. "Right now, Kaiten is beyond the level of your skill. Judging by the small amount of skill you have shown, it may be so for quite some time." He noticed the downcrest look on her face, and though he did not smile, he tone was slightly less firm when he next spoke. "Do not be too discouraged, however. Hinata was once even more talentless than you, and she has proven herself to be adequate in recent years."

Hanako managed a weak smile at this, although she was not really encouraged. Hinata was not nearly as bothered by this statement as she would have been long ago. She had come to terms with the fact that no matter how much she improved, her father would never be entirely pleased with her. She knew, however, the turmoil that must be raging inside Hanako.

Hiashi sighed, and turned to leave.

"Remember, Hanako," he said as he walked away, "You are a Hyuuga. That means that you must behave as one at all times." With those parting words, he left. Hanabi gave one last smirk that she apparently thought was sympathetic, and followed her father. Hinata, however, lingered a moment longer.

After Hiashi and Hanabi had left, the oldest Hyuuga girl walked over to her youngest sister's bed and sat down next to her, absently stroking her hair as she had done when they were both younger. It was something that Hinata remembered her mother doing, before she died giving birth to Hanako, and it seemed to comfort them both.

After a while, Hinata spoke.

"I know that otou-sama can seem harsh sometimes..." Hanako did not look up, "But he doesn't mean to be cruel. He just doesn't understand that what he says hurts you." Hinata smiled slightly, an expression that had become much more common over recent years. "Just because you don't live up to his expectations doesn't mean you're a failure, Hanako."

Hanako looked up, tears in her eyes. Without saying anything, she embraced her sister, and Hinata returned the embrace gladly. After a moment, Hinata spoke again.

"I used to be afraid, constantly afraid of disappointing him. But then, when I joined my team, and made friends, I became stronger. I know now, it doesn't matter if I'm strong enough to make father happy. All that matters is if I am strong enough to protect those I love."

Hanako nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I-I understand that, nee-chan. I'm going to be as strong as you, and protect _my_ friends."

Hinata smiled, a stroked Hanako's hair a moment longer.

"That's a good goal, Hanako. But, you won't need to worry about your friends being in danger for a while. You have Naruto-kun to protect you. If anyone is strong enough to keep you and your friends safe, it will be him."

* * *

Shikamaru stood up as his genin fell to the ground, panting with exertion. They had gone up the tree again, this time making it over halfway to the top. They had improved noticably throughout the course of the day, but there was still a lot of material they needed to work on. 

"We're done training for the day," said Shikamaru. He saw Goren smile in relief, and Kiyo seemed to relax too. He saw Haruka's shoulders untense slightly, and he was fairly sure that the gesture was fairly close to a relieved grin in the girl. "We'll meet again for practice tomorrow, and maybe another D rank mission.

Goren and Kiyo winced, and Shikamaru frowned slightly as he noticed.

"Is there a problem with that?"

Kiyo spoke first, grimacing as he did.

"Do we really have to do another mission like the one we did yesterday? It was...well, boring. Like you said, it didn't help us become better shinobi at all. What's the point of doing more missions like that?" Goren hadn't spoken, but juding by the look on his face he mirrored Kiyo's opinion. Haruka, of course, would never complain about a mission, but she had given a nod of approval to Kiyo's sentiments.

Shikamaru grinned when he heard the question.

"Well, I guess there really isn't a point to these missions," he said with an evil gleam in his eye, "Unless, of course, you want to take the Chuunin Exams this year."

Goren's jaw dropped. Haruka stiffened, and Kiyo's eyes widened slightly.

"I was under the impression that the Chuunin Exam was too difficult for beginners such as ourselves to compete in," said Haruka slowly. "Even out of the Rookie Nine, only you passed the Chuunin Exam in your first year."

Shikamaru shrugged at the semi-praise.

"You can compete in the Chuunin Exams if a few conditions are met," Shikamaru said as he began counting off on his fingers. "You have to have my approval, which I will give if you are strong enough. You have to register for the exams, obviously. Also, you have to have completed at least eight D rank missions." Shikamaru smiled slightly. "The first two conditions are met easily enough, but the third...well, I suppose you're right, Kiyo. There's no need to complete such pointless missions."

Kiyo glared at his sensei.

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?"

Shikamaru grinned.

"Yes, I am. Any more complaints about the D mission?"

Kiyo sighed, but did not say anything else. Shikamaru smiled approvingly.

"All right, then. Meet me back here tomorrow at noon." The three genin walked off, Goren talking to Kiyo about which genjutsu scrolls he would need to look at. Haruka, however, hung back for a moment.

"Shikamaru-sensei," she said, "I have heard stories of the Chuunin Exams from my brother. They did not sound...safe."

Shikamaru nodded, knowing what she was talking about. Shino's teammates had both been injured during the Chuunin Exams, and Hinata had nearly died. Shino himself had come close to death, although his fight with Kankuro had not really been a part of the Exam.

"Don't worry," said Shikamaru. "The other jounin and myself will be keeping a close eye on things, and I doubt that anyone is going to invade our country this year. We're at peace with every major ninja nation. Besides, it would be the height of bad taste to rip off the same sneak attack as Suna, and use it on the same victim." Haruka did not laugh at Shikamaru's attempt at a joke, but did seem to relax slightly.

"Very well," she said, beginning to walk away. She paused again, however, a few feet away. "Shikamaru-sensei?"

Shikamaru sighed impatiently.

"Yes, Haruka?"

"Please do not be late again tomorrow."

Shikamaru glared at her back as she walked away, then sighed and laid down on the grass. Despite his assurances to his team, the prospect of entering his genin into the Chuunin Exams was slightly frightening. He coudl not deny that his genin were good, but he had no idea how talented the other village's genin would be. Despite the fact that there were referees, there would always be risk at the Chuunin Exams.

He sighed, and smiled as a cloud finally appeared in the empty blue sky. The Chuunin Exams were over two months away. He had plenty of time to decide what to do. He would probably discuss the matter with Neji and Naruto, and see what they would do with their teams.

Of course, when the Chuunin Exams came, so would Temari...

* * *

Naruto and his team were uncharacteristically quiet as they sat in the hallway outside of Hanako's hospital room. Daisuke and Hikaru were both thinking about their teammate, but Naruto was having different thoughts. Of course, he was thinking about Hanako as well, but his thoughts were of a different flavor than the concern of Daisuke and Hikaru. Naruto's were tinged with guilt. 

He was Hanako's sensei, and a jounin of the highest caliber. He should have easily been able to intercept an attack by a genin. Naruto knew the only reason that Hanako had been injured was that he had not been paying attention at the time, and he could not forgive himself for that.

He had been entrusted with the responsibility of guiding three young shinobi, teaching them to become full fledged ninjas of Konoha. It was a small, miniscule task compared with that of being Hokage, but Naruto had already managed to find a way to mess up.

_If I can't take care of three children,_ thought Naruto glumly, _how am I supposed to protect an entire village?_ Naruto remembered how he had used to believe that one day, if he trained, and became strong enough, that he would be Hokage. Now that he had matured, however, he knew that there was something more.

If he was going to be Hokage, he needed to take care of the village. He had to watch over it, guide it, protect it. He had to be willing to die for it. Naruto knew that he _would _die for Konoha, and that he _would_ protect it as best as he could. Now, though, he had to wonder if his best would be good enough.

His slow spiral into depression was interrupted by Daisuke.

"Kari-kun and I were fighting only ten feet away from Hanako-chan and Taku-kun," he said slowly. Hikaru looked up at him, frowning. "I...I should have seen it. I should have done something and stopped it." Hikaru opened his mouth to protest Daisuke's statement, but Naruto beat him to it.

Naruto stood, and in one quick motion was right up in Daisuke's face.

"What are you talking about, Daisuke?" Naruto's face was more serious than Daisuke or Hikaru had ever seen it. "Protecting Hanako isn't your job, it's _mine_." Naruto sighed, and seemed to deflate a bit. When he next spoke, his voice was not as harsh. "Don't blame yourself, Daisuke. You couldn't have possibly gotten to her in time to stop the attack, even if you had noticed it coming. If anyone screwed up here, it's me." Daisuke's mouth opened in surprise.

"But-you didn't-" Daisuke stammered.

"Daisuke, it wasn't any of our faults. It was an accident." Hikaru surprised Naruto and Daisuke by speaking up. "Naruto-sensei, your attention was divided by watching three different fights. Daisuke-kun, your attention was distracted by the fight, and even if you had seen the attack coming and known Hanako's defense would fail, you would not have been fast enough to stop it. It was simply an accident."

Naruto looked at Hikaru, quiet for a moment. Then, he burst out laughing. Hikaru and Daisuke stared at him confused.

"Um...Naruto-sensei, what's so funny?" Daisuke asked.

"I'm supposed to be the teacher here," said Naruto, laughing, "But Hikaru seems to be giving me better advice than I've been giving you." Hikaru became slightly bashful at this.

"I was only pointing out what you and Daisuke-san were too distraught to see, Naruto-sensei..."

Daisuke clapped Hikaru on the back, making him cringe for a moment.

"Thanks, Hikaru-kun. We needed a voice of reason to snap us out of it." He turned to face Naruto. "Do you think that Hanako-chan is going to be all right, with her family in there?"

Naruto was surprised for a moment, but right before he spoke, the door opened. Hiashi and Hanabi walked out, not looking at or speaking to Naruto, Daisuke, or Hikaru. After they had passed, Hikaru looked at Naruto.

"Naruto-sensei...Hanako-san's family does not treat her kindly, do they?" Naruto was once again surprised at the perceptiveness of his genin, but not for very long. _After all_, he told himself, _they are shinobi._

_ "_You two may not know this," said Naruto, "But Hanako's family, the Hyuugas, are a powerful clan. They are very strict, and hold themselves to very high standards. Hanako's father thinks that she doesn't meet those standards, and...well, he can be hard on her sometimes."

Daisuke frowned as Naruto spoke.

"Did Hanako-chan tell you this?"

Naruto shook his head.

"No, but I know someone who was in her situation once."

A moment later, Hinata walked out of the room, and whispered a few words to Naruto. Naruto, his two genin, and Hinata all went back into the hospital room to keep Hanabi company.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she stared at the man in the bed before her. His face was pale, and emancipated from his years in a coma, but she could remember when he had been a young boy, and strong. The number one rookie. 

Uchiha Sasuke had once been the reason for Sakura's existence. She had loved him--at first, it had only been a crush, but it had become something more as they fought together, and lived together in Team 7. When he had left...it had been as though he had stabbed her heart, and twisted.

She and Naruto had tried their best to bring him back. They had trained, and become some of the most powerful ninjas in the world. But it had not been enough. They had found Sasuke, and brought him back--but he was not Sasuke anymore.

Many a night, Sakura wondered what had gone wrong. She wondered if they could have done something different to get Sasuke back. Maybe, it could have been different. Maybe Sai could have survived. Maybe Sasuke could have stayed conscious.

Sakura was suddenly aware of a presence behind her, but it was a familiar one. A welcome one.

"Skura-chan, are you all right?"

She smiled sadly, and turned around.

"Of course I am, Lee-kun."

The bushy-browed ninja behind her nodded, smiling, but not in his normal goofy grin. It was a comforting, reassuring smile. Even Lee knew that there were times to be serious, and that this was one of them.

"I will be outside, Sakura-chan."

She nodded, smiling. She had grown closer to Lee in the recent months. He had been a friend to her, always there when she needed someone to talk to about Sasuke. She knew it must have been hard for him--listening to her talk about the man she loved, when he loved her himself. But, he had done it.

He still asked her to go out with him at odd times, but it was no longer such a joke. Sakura was beginning to consider saying yes.

* * *

Temari looked out at the sky as the sun set over Suna. The end of the day had brought clouds along with it, clouds that threatened to bring much needed rain to the dry nation. The light from the sunset gave the clouds interesting colors, and she knew that Shikamaru would be enjoying the view in Konoha immensely. 

She smiled as she thought about the months coming up. Within a few weeks, she would be leaving to go to Konoha, and prepare for the Chuunin Exams. Then, she would see Shikamaru again. It was hard, loving someone who you only saw twice a year, but it was their only option.

_Is it? _Temari had to wonder. Her brother was the Kazekage, and the ruler of Suna. She knew that, if she really asked him, he would give her permission to retire and join the village of Konoha. Due to the stength of the alliance with Konoha, she would probably even be allowed to join as a ninja, instead of as a civilian.

The reverse was true as well. Temari knew Tsunade, though not very well. She thought it likely that, if Shikamaru called in the favors he was owed, he would be able to retire and join the village of Suna. It was just a question of who was willing to give up their homeland, their family.

Temari sighed. She loved Shikamaru, she knew that. It had taken a long time to realize, and many Chuunin Exams to get the point across. However, she had accepted it after a while, as had he. She was willing to leave Suna to be with him--but it would be hard. She loved her siblings as well. Gaara and Kankuro...how could she leave them.

She looked out at the clouds, wishing there was another way. And hoping to see Shikamaru soon.

**A/N: Hope this chapter wasn't too sappy...gulp. Hopefully this one will get more response from you, my faithful readers, then the last chapter did. There's a chance I'm going to slow down a bit over the summer, because of another story or two I'm trying to write, but don't worry. The fanfic is not dying, but if it ever does end prematurely I will announce it. Like that will ever happen...**


	17. New Techniques? A Better Lesson Plan

**A/N: Back, with my next summer installation. Sorry about the wait, but a couple of contests I was in distracted me. I am enjoying summer so far, won an award at Newspaper Camp...don't ask why I went to Newspaper Camp.**

**...Shut up! It's not as nerdy as it sounds!**

Shikamaru was true to his word. He arrived at the training ground before any of his genin did, and for once did something besides look at the clouds. He started thinking about what he was going to tell his team when they arrived.

Once again, the first to show up was Haruka. She seemed mildly surprised to see Shikamaru there, but nodded at him approvingly. Neither of them particularly felt like talking, so they stood in silence as they waited for Kiyo and Goren to arrive. Shikamaru continued to plan for his team, while Haruka stood. She was probably thinking about something, but there's no way to tell for sure.

Kiyo and Goren arrived together, talking about yesterday's training. Shikamaru absent mindedly noticed that the two seemed to be much closer to each other than they were to Haruka, and thought that he probably should do something about that. However, he only took notice of that subconsciously. He was busy thinking about what he had learned this morning.

Once Goren and Kiyo reached Shikamaru and Haruka, they stood near Haruka and gradually stopped talking. Shikamaru looked at each of them in turn, then sighed.

"I got some bad news from Naruto this morning about his team," he said quietly. There wasn't a sudden, dramatic change in the genin, but Kiyo and Goren's smiles faded slightly. "Apparently, after Neji's team arrived over there, they began to spar with each other. There was an accident between Hanako and Taku, and Hanako was injured. It wasn't life threatening, but she had to go to the hospital. She will be out in time for today's training, though."

Goren and Kiyo stared at Shikamaru, while Haruka went completely still. Shikamaru could have sworn that he saw a slight tremble go through her.

"How did Naruto-sama let something like that happen?" Goren said with a puzzled expression on his face. Shikamaru grimaced. At first, he had wondered the same thing, but then he had seen how much it was eating at Naruto and had dropped the subject.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Goren," said Shikamaru. "However, we can learn from those mistakes, which is what we are going to do today."

Goren raised an eyebrow, always excited at the idea of learning.

"What are we learning from this, Shikamaru-sensei?"

Shikamaru thought back on his lesson plan, and nodded.

"Hanako was injured by a weapon striking her while she tried to attempt a manuever that was far too advanced for her, and she should have known better. However, there was still time to use a technique that could have saved her. Do you know what that technique is?"

Goren and Kiyo thought for a moment, but Haruka spoke immediately in a cold voice.

"Are you saying Hanako-chan's injury is her own fault?"

Shikamaru looked at her in surprise for a moment. There had been a defensive tone in Haruka's voice, more emotion than he had heard from her in a long time. He had seen the way Hanako pestered Haruka...was it possible that Haruka was actually fond of the Hyuuga girl? He chose his words carefully.

"It wasn't really anyone's fault, but there were things she could have done to avoid it."

Kiyo thought that he had the answer.

"Are you talking about the substitution jutsu?"

Shikamaru smiled, slightly surprised that Kiyo had guessed it before Goren. Goren had probably been expecting a trick question, and was looking for a more complex answer...trying to see underneath the underneath. Sometimes, however, the underneath didn't go as deep as you thought it did.

"That's a start, Kiyo, though there's more to it. We're going to start out today going over the substitution technique. I know you've learned about it in the Academy, but you need to have it perfected if you're going to learn the new technique I have in mind."

Kiyo perked up, and Goren's eyes gleamed at hearing that they were going to learn a new technique. Haruka seemed to take interest, dropping out of the trance that she had been in.

"A new technique?" asked Goren. "What kind?"

Shikamaru grinned. He had suceeded in attracting their attention. For his first lesson plan that did not involve any improvisation on his part, Shikamaru thought that this was going rather well.

"You'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, practice the substitution technique. Take turns punching each other."

The three looked at each other, and grimaced. They might have some bruises when the day was over.

* * *

Naruto struck a slightly different image to his genin that morning when they arrived at the training ground. The normally exuberant shinobi was slightly subdued. He had rings under his eyes, and nodded to recognize their arrival instead of his typical wave and shout. 

The jinchuuriki had not had an easy time getting sleep the last night. He had gone over every moment of Hanako's fight with Taku, searching for things he could have done differently. Rationally, he told himself that there was nothing he could have done, but Hiashi's words were still eating at him. He had done his best to ignore them, but he knew that he would breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Hanako arrive, looking healthy.

His talk with Shikamaru had helped him, somewhat. Though the lazy ninja had been surprised at the injury, after he had gotten the basic details he seemed more concerned about Naruto than about Hanako. It was almost as though he knew what Naruto was going through.

_I suppose he might,_ thought Naruto. _That guy seems psychic sometimes._ Naruto grinned slightly, but the grin died when he realized that Shikamaru actually did know how he felt. He had gone through it with Asuma's death.

Of course, obviously Asuma's death had been harder on Shikamaru than a simple injury to Hanako, but Naruto supposed that the gist of it was the same. Something bad happened to one of his teammates, and he felt as though he should have been able to stop it. Naruto smiled, feeling quite clever to have seen the inner workings of Shikamaru's mind, a feat that few had ever accomplished.

Daisuke and Hikaru arrived first, a slight tension between them that had not been present before. Hikaru was always quiet, but today he seemed even more reserved than normal, and Daisuke was not even trying to draw him into a conversation. Naruto supposed that they were as worried about Hanako as he was, though there was a considerably smaller portion of guilt in their worry.

After polite nods to acknowledge each other's presences, the three men of Team Three stood, waited, and did a lot of fidgeting. It was mostly Naruto and Daisuke who fidgeted, but even Hikaru looked slightly uncomfortable.

It seemed like hours had passed before the sound of footsteps was heard on the path. The area was so quiet that all three heard the soft noise at the same time, and looked up simultaneously. Though the footsteps could be heard easily in the silence, it took forever for Hanako to finally come into view.

The group's attitude changed immediately. Hikaru gave a small smile, Daisuke became a ball of energy once again, and Naruto became his normal idiotic self. Hanako smiled, seeing her teammates, and ran over to them. Sakura had done her job as a healer, Hanako couldn't even feel where the wound had been. She doubted that there was a scar either-not that she intended to let anyone look there!

She reached the group quickly, and gave Naruto a quick bow, though she was beaming.

"I'm sorry for being late, Naruto-sensei, the hospital forms-"

She was interrupted by a crushing hug from Daisuke.

"You're back, Hanako-chan, and healthy! Team hug!"

Hikaru had enough time to stammer.

"Daisuke-san, what are you-"

Daisuke had pulled him into the hug, smiling the whole time. In the center of the hug, Hanako was blushing. This was not how she had pictured her first day back from the hospital to be. Naruto was off to the side, laughing, and wishing that he had a camera. He decided then and there that he would always carry one with him from now on, just in case.

After taking a moment to enjoy the scene, Naruto clapped his hands together. The genin untangled themselves from the hug, Hikaru coughing and straightening his shirt, Daisuke grinning from ear to ear, and Hanako blushing a bright red color. He grinned, and managed to bring himself back onto the topic at hand.

"All right, we're all glad to have Hanako here. But, we need to get some training done." He became slightly more serious. "After all, we need to be able to prevent anything like what happened yesterday from happening in the future."

Daisuke's grin faded along with Hanako's blush, and Hikaru gave a curt nod. That was one of the things Naruto liked about his team. They knew how to enjoy themselves, but they never seemed to have any trouble becoming serious when necessary. He knew that he would have simply died if he had been saddled with a team of people as stuck up as Neji, or Shino.

"We're not going to spar today," Naruto said as he looked at the three of them. Hanako gave a small sigh of relief that no one else noticed. She had not been sure that she would be ready for another fight so soon.

"Instead," continued Naruto, "We're going to do two things. First, we're going to warm up by using the tree climbing exercise we learned yesterday. Get to it."

The genin nodded, and found three trees next to each other. Hanako was still ahead of the other two, and Daisuke was always last by a tiny bit. Naruto was more sure than ever that Daisuke was holding back.

* * *

A loud_ crack_ split the air, and a shudder went through the log. Taku's weapon was lodged in the center of it, and a large split went through it vertically. With a vicious yank, the weapon pulled back, and the log fell into two pieces. A perfect hit, but not enough. Taku turned and looked at the next log in the line he had assembled, and began swinging his chain. 

Kari stood behind him, with a slight pout on her face. She knew better than to get too close to the spinning chain, however.

"Taku-kun is no fun today," she said sadly to Ryuichi. She was in her 'happy girlfriend' mood right now. Ryuichi had noticed that she fluctuated between being a serious, normal girl, and a peppy, obsessive girlfriend. All of which was made funnier by the fact that Taku had never agreed to be her boyfriend.

"He has a lot on his mind," said Ryuichi, slightly defensively. "If you're his girlfriend, you should know that. Hell, if you're just his teammate, you should still know that."

A speck of hurt flashed in Kari's eyes, and she opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Wordlessly, she turned to face Taku again, eyes gleaming. There was an awkward silence.

"I'm sorry," said Ryuichi after a few moments.

"No," Kari said slowly. "You were right."

"Yes, I was," said Ryuichi. He was never one for false modesty. "But that wasn't the most tactful way for me to say it."

"You shouldn't have had to say it at all," said Kari, still staring at Taku, who was spinning his chain with an angry determination. After another silence, she turned and looking at Ryuichi.

"You should talk to him. You're his best friend."

Ryuichi grimaced.

"Yeah...I suppose I should...damn."

He walked up as close to Taku as he could without risking being hit by the chain, and stood for a moment. He needed to think of something to say.

He was not as good at being a best friend as Taku was. He had always been a bit of a loner, although he was not nearly as ostracized as some, such as Goren, were. He had grown up knowing exactly what he wanted to do with his life. At an age where most children discuss fanciful dreams of the future, he was working towards his goal with a single minded determination that set him apart from the rest. He wanted to be the best swordsman from Konohagakure.

It was this dream that had introduced him to Taku.

_Flashback_

_The wooden post bore many scars from the beatings it endured. Some were deep, the marks of stronger, older students, while some were the smaller badges of a young ninja's work. Ryuichi slashed at the post, adding another mark to its collection. He stared at it, not entirely pleased with its size. He went through another routine, slashing at the post in what was supposed to be a graceful dance, when he heard someone coming up behind him._

_He stopped, and turned. A boy he had seen from class, but always ignored, was standing a few feet away from him, an odd looking weapon in his hand. It was a chain, with spikes along its length, and a large ball as though from a mace adorned the end. It looked quite sharp, and very dangerous, but a little too heavy for the boy. It also looked as though it might cut him if he did not hold it correctly._

_"Do you want something?" Ryuichi asked the boy, trying not to let impatience creep into his voice._

_"I've only seen you train with a sword," said the boy, a cocky grin on his face. "Does that mean you're going to be a kenjutsu specialist?"_

_Ryuichi nodded warily._

_"Yes, I'm going to be a swordsman. What's your name again?"_

_The grin never leaving his face, the boy extended his hand to be shaken._

_"I'm Taku. I'm in your class."_

_Ryuichi reached out and shook his hand, slightly awkwardly. He was not used to it._

_"I know that, I've seen you, Taku-san. I just didn't know your name."_

_Taku smiled even more, if possible._

_"Taku-kun is fine, Ryuichi-kun. It seems that you and I have similar goals." He held out the end of his weapon, gingerly avoiding the spikes along the chain. "You want to be a swordsman. I want to make a completely original weapon, and master it. Why don't we help each other?"_

_Ryuichi had relaxed slightly. Maybe it was Taku's cocksure manner, or the fact that he had met a fellow kenjutsu user, but he was already feeling himself open up._

_"And how would you propose we do that...Taku-kun?"_

_Taku began pacing along the training ground, twirling his chain idly._

_"Well, if I'm going to create an awesome weapon, I need someone to fight against with it, so they can tell me how effective it is. And you need someone to spar against who isn't a stick." Ryuichi thought about it, then raised his sword._

_"All right," he said. "A spar sounds fun."_

_Taku nodded._

_"Perfect."_

_Then, he let the weapon fly, and the battle began._

_End flashback_

Taku's weapon had undergone a lot of changes since then, as had their relationship. They had slowly come to talk to each other about things other than simply weapons, and soon they were best friends. It became known that to mess with Ryuichi would earn the ire of Taku, and any insult to Taku would bring Ryuichi swooping down like a hawk. They had been able to talk, and usually joke, about anything. This was something new, though.

_Oh well,_ thought Ryuichi, _I'll do my best._ He walked close to the spinning chain, gauged its speed for a second, then caught it, and let it wrap around his hand until it came to a stop, the blade clinging off of the chains. Taku whirled around, glaring.

"Don't do that! It could hit your hand."

Ryuichi raised an eyebrow.

"I do that all the time, Taku-kun. You've never worried about it before."

Taku glared at him for a minute, then grunted.

"That's because I was a stupid kid, and didn't appreciate what a weapon can really do."

For a moment, Ryuichi looked at him.

"If you're thinking about Hanako-san, it wasn't your fault. It was an accident, it could have happened to anyone."

His friend turned away from him, fists clenched.

"It was an accident...but it sure as hell could have been prevented. Why would I am for her body? I should have gone for a leg, or an arm, or anything else!"

With a slight sigh, Ryuichi walked in front of Taku, forcing him to face him.

"You aimed for the body because that's what ninjas do. We go for the kill. You had every reason to suspect she would either dodge or block that attack, just like every other one. She was the one who slipped up, not you."

Taku did not speak, and his fists quivered slightly.

"I'm still the one with the blood on my weapon."

There was silence between the two, when Kari interrupted it with a slight cough. Ryuichi turned, annoyed that she had interrupted their talk.

"What?"

She gestured down the path, smiling.

"Neji-sensei is back!"

* * *

Goren fell backwards, skidded in the dust, then spat out a bit of blood. 

"Crap! That hurt!"

Haruka shook her hand slightly, knuckles a bit red from the punch.

"I apologize, Goren-san. I expected you to use the substitution this time. Perhaps you should hit me, to get a good idea of how hard to punch."

Goren gave a sigh.

"No, I'll just punch Kiyo-kun again. Then he can punch you, and you can punch me, just like we've been doing all day."

Haruka looked over at Shikamaru, and shrugged slightly, before turning back to the genin. Shikamaru sighed. He had been hoping that having a girl punch Goren repetitively would help break some of the ice in his antichivalry campaign, but Goren had shown no signs of cracking yet. However, that was not his primary concern at the moment.

Despite the fact that Goren's most recent try had been a failure, all three genin were doing fairly well with the substitution technique. Kiyo was doing better than Haruka, who was doing better than Goren, but only by very small margins. He thought that they might be almost ready for the next stage of today's lesson.

Goren stood up, and drew his fist back. Kiyo braced himself for the punch, and Goren's fist flew. However, suddenly Shikamaru was between the two, holding Goren's fist with one hand, and holding a kunai to Kiyo's throat with the other. All three remained perfectly frozen for a moment, then Shikamaru released Goren and lowered the kunai. Haruka, who had tensed slightly when Shikamaru appeared, relaxed.

"That's another lesson," said Shikamaru as he sheathed his kunai. "Never assume the enemy is only going to attack in one way. Always be ready for the possibility of a third party entering the fray, or your opponent having an ally you didn't suspect." He yawned, and put his hand in his pockets. "You three are doing fairly well on the substitution jutsu, and whatever practice you need you can get at home. It's time to move on to the next part."

Ignoring the fact that his nose was still bleeding a little, Goren beamed.

"We're going to learn the new technique? What is it?"

Shikamaru glared at him.

"Not so fast. I need to give the lesson its proper introduction." He cleared his throat. "All right, then. You have been learning, or at least practicing, the substitution jutsu. That's a good technique to avoid harm, if there is no other way to avoid being hit. But, obviously, a better solution would be to never get hit at all. I'm going to teach you a genjutsu that will come fairly close to making you invisible."

Kiyo blinked at this, and then grinned.

"Sounds pretty useful!"

Shikamaru held up a hand before he could grow any more excited.

"It isn't as good as it sounds, Kiyo. It doesn't make you completely invisible, it just makes you blend in with your background a lot better, and makes people less likely to pay attention to you. It will hide you from most civilians, and even some fairly low level shinobi, but it won't work on the higher level ninja you come across. Don't rely on it entirely."

Kiyo nodded, already skipping over Shikamaru's warning at the prospect of a new jutsu. Goren, who had been studying genjutsu as Shikamaru suggested, had a lot of questions.

"Does this genjutsu create a field of brain altering chakra, or does it simply affect the user? Or does it have to be specifically targeted against an enemy?"

Shikamaru thought a moment, then responded in a very technical jumble that no one but himself and Goren could understand. Kiyo and Haruka shared a slightly exasperated glance, before Kiyo sighed.

"Can you just show us how it works, Shikamaru-sensei?" Kiyo was not a very patient person.

Shikamaru sighed, and nodded.

"All right. These are the hand signs." He went through them slowly, not building up any chakra. He simply wanted to show them the correct order, not actually use the technique yet. "Got it?"

The three nodded, and he continued.

"All right. You perform the seals, and gather the necessary chakra. It requires a lot less than you would think. You aren't trying to force invisibility on yourself, you are trying to meld your chakra with the flow around you, and be as unobtrusive as possible." Suddenly, Shikamaru's hands blurred, and in an instant he was gone. The three genin gaped for a moment, before Haruka smirked.

"He's still there," she said.

As soon as Goren and Kiyo saw where she was gesturing, they saw him too. He had not moved, but it was as though he had become a part of the background. They had simply glanced over him until they knew exactly where to look. Once it was apparent that they all saw him, Shikamaru smirked and dispelled the jutsu. He walked forward, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"This shows you that our lesson today has a dual purpose. To learn to use this genjutsu, and to learn to see through it, and others like it. You should be able to see through a technique like this, if you want to go on missions against other shinobi." Shikamaru looked at the three, but Goren spoke up.

"Shikamaru-sensei, I didn't think we _did_ want to go on missions against other shinobi. That would be a bad thing, right?" Goren looked puzzled. "That would mean that we are at war, or at least against dangerous enemies."

Shikamaru looked at him for a moment, then blinked.

"Yes, that's true, Goren. It's just tha tusually genin your age don't see that, and are much more focused on getting on to the 'real' missions, against serious opponents. It's a good thing that you see the truth of the matter so easily." Goren smiled, slightly surprised at the praise, but Kiyo's expression darkened.

"However," Kiyo said, "I can _definitely_ think of some times when killing other shinobi would be a good thing."

He turned, and walked away from the group. H ebegan practicing the genjutsu without saying another word. Shikamaru, Haruka, and goren stared after him for a moment, blinking. The same thought went through their heads.

_What was that about..._

* * *

Naruto looked at his genin. They were sweating slightly from exertion, but they were far from exhausted. They had been climbing the trees for a while now, and they had clearly improved. He could tell that the training had been working. 

He gave a sharp whistle, and all three turned to look at him. With a wave of his hand, he beckoned them over. They complied quickly, wanting to see what the second part of their training was. Hanako was panting slightly harder than she normally would be, but that was to be expected so soon after her recovery.

A grin went over Naruto's face as he saw their excited expressions. He had thought of a perfect way to interest them in learning a new technique.

"With the tree climbing exercise," began Naruto, "You're beginning to gain larger chakra stores. Now, can you tell me what you can do with more chakra?"

There was silence for a moment as they thought.

"Well, you can use it to give you more strength," said Hanako after a moment.

Naruto nodded.

"That's true. What else?"

Hikaru raised his hand, then spoke.

"You can use it to perform stronger ninjutsus."

Naruto smiled. That was the answer he had been hoping for.

"That's right, Hikaru. Some techniques use a lot of chakra, and you can't use them unless you have a big chakra capacity. But, there are some jutsus that anyone can use, and adding chakra just makes them more effective. I'm going to show you a good example of that one today. I'm going to teach you the summoning technique."

They had all of heard of the technique, and some of them had even seen it in action during Orochimaru's attacks on the village in their childhoods. A toad the size of Gamabunta is hard to miss. A gleam appeared in their eyes, a flicker of excitement at learning such a potentially powerful technique. That is, in Hanako and Goren.

When Daisuke heard the word 'summoning,' a small twitch went through his face. It was not apparent on his countenance, but he devised a very important plan, very quickly once he heard those words. Then, the gleam of excitement was there, making him look just like the other two. Naruto may have seen this small difference, but if he did he gave no sign of it. He simple walked over to a grassy area, and bit his thumb.

"All right, what I'm about to show you is-"

"Wait!" Daisuke spoke up quickly. "Are you going to summon a toad?"

Naruto blinked, and nodded.

"Yes...why?"

Daisuke, for some reason, blushed.

"You see, I...I can't stand toads. I've been afraid of them since I was a kid. Once of them jumped on my head when I was a toddler, and wouldn't get off."

Naruto and Hikaru managed to keep relatively straight faces, but Hanako could not entirely conceal her snicker.

"Shut up!" Daisuke's blush became even redder. "It's not that funny! Please, Naruto-sensei...could you summon something else?"

Naruto sighed, then nodded. Fortunately, he had added his name to another contract since his signing of the toad one. He actually had his name on several contracts, just in case he needed something different. However, he still almost always used the toad contract.

"All right," he said, preparing the blood on his thumb. "I'll summon something else..."

His hands rapidly went through several signs, and he thrust them onto the ground. A cloud of smoke appeared, and a small monkey about two feet tall appeared, standing on one hand and itching his side with the other. When he saw Naruto, he jumped onto both feet.

"Oi, you again? Whatcha need me for, ain't frogs enough for you?" The monkey spoke with an odd accent, one that Naruto had never quite been able to place. He gave a slightly exasperated smile, and gestured to his genin.

"Torriki, these are Hanako, Daisuke, and Hikaru. They're my students, and I'm using you as a lesson."

Torriki straightened, and spit on the ground.

"You're usin' me to teach brats like those?"

Naruto ignored him, and spoke to the genin.

"If you put a smaller amount of chakra," he said, "Then you'll get a smaller creature." He gestured towards Torriki. "The more chakra you get, the larger a creature, and the more powerful. Be careful, though," he added with a grimace. "Some of them have pretty big attitudes, no matter how small they are." He glared at Torriki, who had been going into a minirant about how insulting it was to be used to inform an ignorant bunch of snot nosed kids. Naruto snapped his fingers, and Torriki disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"At first, I was only able to summon tadpoles," said Naruto, "But as I learned to use my chakra better, I became able to summon Gamabunta, the largest toad there is." He neglected to mention that he had only been able to do that with the Kyuubi's chakra, though he was fairly sure he could do it on his own now. "All right, now come here. I'm going to add all of your names to the monkey summoning contract." Naruto pulled a smaller version of the scroll from his pack. Currently Konohamaru had the scroll with the monkey contract, but what Naruto had was close enough.

"Bite your thumbs so they bleed, and write your names on the scroll."

Hanako and Daisuke did so, but Hikaru paused and grimaced.

"Do we really have to learn to summon _that _foul little thing?"

Naruto laughed, and nodded.

"Don't judge the entire group by one little pest. The Sarutobis have used the monkey summoning contract for generations, and they are one of Konoha's most powerful clans. Besides, even Torriki isn't so bad once you earn his respect."

Slightly abashed, Hikaru bit his thumb, and signed the contract. Once the blood had dried, Naruto rolled it back up with a snap, and showed them the hand seals required.

"All right, just pour as much chakra into the summoning as you can, and see what happens."

They tried, and it was a disaster. Hikaru and Hanako only managed to send up clouds of smoke, with nothing inside to show for it. Daisuke summoned a slightly larger cloud, which gave him a hopeful look, only to discover a very small baboon had been summoned. It looked like it was probably a baby.

To make things worse, when Daisuke tried to pick it up, it snarled in fury and jumped onto his head. Despite its size, it was ferocious, and continued to beat at his skull no matter how much Daisuke flailed. Naruto, Hanako, and Hikaru were too busy laughing to help, but after a long moment Daisuke finally managed to dismiss it, thankfully before it had a chance to leave any 'gifts' in his hair.

Hikaru walked up to him, and placed his hand on Daisuke's shoulder, keeping a straight face.

"Are you all right, Daisuke-kun?"

Daisuke glared at him, then nodded.

"No thanks to you three, laughing it up over there."

Hikaru nodded.

"Well, hopefully this experience won't scar you for life, and leave you afraid of monkeys." He smiled. "No...that would only happen to a toddler..."

Daisuke growled at him.

"That is so not funny..."

The laughter of the rest of the team could be heard for quite a distance.

**A/N: Yes, I know...another chapter of training...but another hint at Daisuke! Don't worry, soon the plot is going to move on. And no, I don't intend to use the stereotypical Chuunin Exams plot. Don't judge me yet...**

**No promises on when I reveal Daisuke's secret, though my little brother is constantly urging me. Read and review!**


	18. Announcement

Okay, firstly I would like to apologize. I didn't realize how long it had been since I updated this story. I've got an announcement to make.

This story is being discontinued. To be honest, I'm guessing most of you who have followed the story know this, but I just wanted to make it official. I kind of lost track of where I wanted to go with the story, and trying to keep up with all of the changes in the manga have made writing the story kind of confusing. So, I'm sorry if any of you are hardcore fans, but it's over. If anyone feels the overpowering urge to continue it on your own, just PM me and get my permission, and you can have the rights to work with it. As for me, I am done.

I hope to continue with fanfiction, however. Probably not any more Naruto, but I'm planning on posting a Dresden Files fanfic in the next few days. I also have some very vague plans for a Harry Potter fanfic, but it is yet to materialize. Keep an eye on my account if you're curious to see what else I'm coming up with.

Sorry that this story couldn't go on longer. It was fun while it lasted.

Kurosaki Strawberry


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